Systems and Methods to Connect People for Real Time Communications

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatuses to present information to sellers/advertisers/advisors for connections to customers for real time communications. One embodiment includes: responsive to a request from a customer, determining a telephonic reference of the customer; presenting to at least one entity an option to be connected to the customer; responsive to a first entity selecting the option, initiating a telephonic connection to the customer using the determined telephonic reference of the customer to provide a telephonic connection between the customer and the first entity; and charging the first entity a fee for a lead to the customer in response to establishing the telephonic connection between the customer and the first entity.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to Provisional U.S. PatentApplication Ser. No. 60/976,722, filed Oct. 1, 2007, the disclosure ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNOLOGY FIELD

At least some embodiments disclosed herein relate to communicationconnections in general and, more particularly but not exclusively, toconnections for real time communications, such as connecting people fortelephonic conversation, chat in text, voice and/or video, documentsharing, screen-sharing, application sharing, etc.

BACKGROUND

Telephone systems allow users to conduct real time two-way voicecommunication. Traditional land-line based telephone systems connect onetelephone set to another through one or more switching centers, operatedby one or more telephone companies, over a land-line based telephonenetwork. Traditionally, a telephone connection is based on a circuitswitched network.

Current telephone systems may also use a packet switched network for atelephone connection. A packet switched network is typical in a computerdata environment. Recent developments in the field of Voice overInternet Protocol (VoIP) allow the delivery of voice information usingthe Internet Protocol (IP), in which voice information is packaged in adigital form in discrete packets rather than in the traditionalcircuit-committed protocols of the public switched telephone network(PSTN).

Cellular networks allow a cellular phone to connect to a nearby cellularbase station through an air interface for wireless access to a telephonenetwork. Recent developments in wireless telephone systems allow notonly voice communications but also data communications. For example,cellular phones can now receive and send short messages through a ShortMessage Service (SMS). Web pages can now be retrieved through wirelesscellular links and displayed on cellular phones. Wireless ApplicationProtocol (WAP) has been developed to overcome the constraints ofrelatively slow and intermittent nature of wireless links to accessinformation similar or identical to World Wide Web.

Telephone companies provide a number of convenient features, such ascall forwarding. Call forwarding of a telephone system allows a user ofa phone at a given phone number to dial a specific sequence on the phoneto cause the telephone system to forward incoming calls addressed to thephone number to another specified phone number indicated by the dialedsequence.

Telephone systems are frequently used in conducting business. Telephonenumbers are typically provided in advertisements, web sites,directories, etc., as a type of contact information to reach businesses,experts, persons, etc.

The Internet is becoming an advertisement media to reach globallypopulated web users. Advertisements can be included in a web page thatis frequently visited by web users. Typically, the advertisementsincluded in the web pages contain only a limited amount of information(e.g., a small paragraph, an icon, etc.). The advertisements containlinks to the web sites that provide further detailed information. Incertain arrangements, the advertisers pay the advertisements based onthe number of visits directed to their web sites by the links of theadvertisements.

Performance based advertising generally refers to a type of advertisingin which an advertiser pays only for a measurable event that is a directresult of an advertisement being viewed by a consumer. For example, inone form of performance-based search advertising, an advertisement isincluded within a result page of a keyword search. Each selection(“click”) of the advertisement from the results page is the measurableevent for which the advertiser pays. In other words, payment by theadvertiser is on a per click basis in such advertising.

SUMMARY

Described herein are methods and apparatuses to present information tosellers/advertisers/advisors for connections to customers for real timecommunications. Some embodiments are summarized in this section.

In one embodiment, a method includes: responsive to a request from acustomer, determining a telephonic reference of the customer; presentingto at least one entity an option to be connected to the customer;responsive to a first entity selecting the option, initiating atelephonic connection to the customer using the determined telephonicreference of the customer to provide a telephonic connection between thecustomer and the first entity; and charging the first entity a fee for alead to the customer in response to establishing the telephonicconnection between the customer and the first entity.

The present disclosure includes methods and apparatuses which performthese methods, including data processing systems which perform thesemethods, and computer readable media which when executed on dataprocessing systems cause the systems to perform these methods.

Other features of the disclosure will be apparent from the accompanyingdrawings and from the detailed description which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which likereferences indicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 shows a method to establish connections for real timecommunications according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates a user interface for the creation of an advertisementaccording to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates a user interface for the creation of a listingaccording to one embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a user interface to manage availabilityfor receiving phone calls according to one embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows a diagram illustrating a method to select a type oftracking mechanism with a corresponding reference for embedding in anadvertisement according to one embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of telephone call tracking mechanismswhich can be selected according to one embodiment.

FIG. 7 shows a diagram of a system to make and track phone connectionsaccording to one embodiment.

FIG. 8 shows a system including a connection server configured on apacket switched network according to one embodiment.

FIG. 9 shows a connection server according to one embodiment.

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram example of a data processing system whichmay be used in various embodiments.

FIG. 11 shows a user interface to arrange a callback to connect a callerto a callee for real time communications according to one embodiment.

FIG. 12 shows a system to connect customers to advertisers according toone embodiment.

FIG. 13 shows a user interface to capture a customer request accordingto one embodiment.

FIG. 14 shows a user interface to present an option to an entity for aconnection to a customer according to one embodiment.

FIG. 15 shows a system to advertise customer needs according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 16 shows a user interface to present customer needs to an entityfor a connection to a customer according to one embodiment.

FIG. 17 shows a method to provide a communication connection accordingto one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the description. It will be apparent, however, to oneskilled in the art that embodiments of the disclosure can be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, structures anddevices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring thedescription.

Reference in this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodimentof the disclosure. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” invarious places in the specification are not necessarily all referring tothe same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodimentsmutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, various features aredescribed which may be exhibited by some embodiments and not by others.Similarly, various requirements are described which may be requirementsfor some embodiments but not other embodiments.

In the disclosure, the term “advertisement” may refer to variousdifferent forms of presentations to attract attention or patronage. Anadvertisement may be simply a listing of identity and contactinformation (e.g., in a web page, a print media, a telephonic listingservice, etc.), or a passage including one or more statements aboutbusiness offering, etc., or a banner with graphical content and/oranimation embedded in a web page, or a voice message presented in avoice channel (e.g., radio broadcasting, a voice portal with InteractiveVoice Response (IVR), which may accept user input through voicerecognition or through keypad input generated Dual Tone Multi-Frequency(DTMF) signals), or others.

In one embodiment, a listing is presented to a user to provide the userwith a communication reference, which can be used to request aconnection for real time communications between the user and the entityof the listing, such as for telephonic conversations, instant messaging,chat in text, voice and/or video, screen sharing or application sharing,etc. The entity of the listing may be an advertiser who offers anadvertisement fee for being presented, or a business entity, a seller,an advisor, an information provider, or a service provider, such as aprovider for entertainment, amusement, etc. A listing may include text,graphical presentation, and/or audio or voice.

A listing may or may not be provided on behalf of an advertiser for afee. For example, a directory service provider may compile listings ofsome businesses or sellers without the businesses or sellers explicitlyrequest the directory service provider to advertise for them. A businessor seller presented by a listing may or may not pay an advertisement feefor the presentation of the listing and/or for the lead to the customersresulting from the presentation of the listing.

For example, a community of users may create listings of businesses,sellers, etc. based on the recommendation of the users. In oneembodiment, a listing can be created and edited by the community ofusers of telephonic apparatuses, such as softphones, cellular phones, orsmart phones. The users can provide, edit, and/or modify a description,comments, ratings, etc., about a business or service provider that isidentified by a telephonic reference, such as a telephone number of thebusiness or service provider. Alternatively, the listings may have aportion of description that can be edited by the respective advertiserbut not by other users. The listing database represents a businessdirectory; and the entities represented by the listings may not pay anyfee for being presented. Some of the entities may offer a fee forpreferred placement in presentation. In one embodiment, the users may becharged a communication fee for communicating with the entities featuredin the listings when the users use the softphones, cellular phones, orsmart phones to communicate with the entities.

In one embodiment, an advertiser of an advertisement is charged anadvertisement fee based on the performance of the advertisement (e.g., atelephonic connection to a customer, a lead for real time communicationwith a customer, a deal completed with the customer as a result of theperformance, a subscription fee for a number of bundled leads or deals,etc.).

In one embodiment, a listing is provided to allow a customer to beconnected to a seller; and the connection provider can charge thecustomer on behalf of the seller for transactions conducted over theconnection provided between the customer and the seller. In oneembodiment, the user terminals provided to the customer and the sellersare configured to charge the customer on behalf of the seller for thetransactions. The customers and/or the sellers may also be charged forthe communication connection. Alternatively, the communicationconnection may not be charged explicitly; and the communication cost canbe covered via the commission fees for charging the customer on behalfof the seller and/or the advertisement fees.

In one embodiment, a presented listing includes a telephonic reference,which is used to identify an “end point” on a telephonic network for atelephonic connection to the “end point”. The telephonic network may bea circuit switched network, or a packet switched network, or acombination of one or more circuit switched networks and one or morepacket switched networks. For example, the telephonic reference may be atelephone number with an extension, a telephone number without anextension, a session initiation protocol (SIP) uniform resourceidentifier (URI), a user identifier of an instant messaging network, auser identifier of a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network, or auser identifier of a peer to peer VoIP network, etc.

In one embodiment, the telephonic references presented in some of thelistings are references assigned by a connection server such that, whenthe references are used, the connection server is in the path of a callfor a connection between the caller and the callee. For example, theconnection server may be requested to call back the caller and to callthe callee separately to connect the caller and the callee according toan assigned reference. For example, the connection server may receive acall, as an end point specified by an assigned reference, and thenfurther connect the call to the callee based on the assigned referenceused to receive the call. For example, the connection server may bequeried to provide a telephonic reference of the callee according to anassigned reference to allow the caller's device to initiate the call tothe callee using the provided reference. For example, the connectionserver may decrypt or decode an encrypted/encoded phone number of thecallee for the caller's device and track the calls made by the caller'sdevice through the decrypting or decoding process.

For example, in one embodiment, when an assigned reference is used tocall for connections, the user is connected to a connection server as anend point. The connection server determines the communication referenceof the advertiser based on the assigned reference used to connect theuser and the connection server and then further connects the user to theadvertiser. Through the use of the assigned reference, the connectionserver is in the path of connecting the user and the advertiser to trackthe connection made via the advertisement.

For example, the assigned reference can be a telephone number of theconnection server, which when called by the user can be used todetermine the telephone number of the advertiser; and the telephonenumber of the advertiser can be used to further connect the call to theadvertiser. For example, the assigned reference may be a reference torequest a callback to the user to connect to the advertiser. Forexample, the assigned reference can be an identifier of the advertiser,such as a user ID of the advertiser, a SIP URL of the advertiser, etc.The assigned reference can be passed to the connection server in a callsignaling message of a VoIP call, be used to request a server to resolvethe reference into a direct reference for use in a network, or be usedto report to a server about the call to the advertiser.

In another embodiment, the telephonic references for some of thelistings are designed to be used on telephonic apparatuses which areconfigured to track the calls made via the telephonic references and/orto report the calls made via the telephonic references. Thus,information about the calls made via the telephonic references can beused at a server to bill advertisers per connections made via theadvertisements, to charge the customers on behalf of advisers (orsellers, service providers), to compensate partners based on the callactivities, etc.

In a further embodiment, the telephonic references for some of thelistings are designed to be used on telephonic apparatuses which areconfigured to maintain account information, or to communicate withservers of financial institutions to bill advertisers, and/or charge thecustomers on behalf of advisers, sellers or service providers.

In one embodiment, the user terminals that are designed to make theconnections via the advertisement use the assigned reference to trackthe connections and report to a server the connection made via theadvertisement. For example, softphones can be designed to make directconnections over a peer to peer network, without going through acentralized connection server. The softphones can be configured toreport the calls made via the advertisements to a server for tracking.Alternatively, the softphones may be configured to deduct fees, ortransfer funds, via accounts maintained by the softphones, or accountsaccessible individually by the softphones.

In one embodiment, a click to call button includes a reference to thecallee, which when selected, causes a telephonic apparatus used by theuser, such as a softphone, a cellular phone, or a smart phone, to starta process to call the callee. The reference to the callee may be a SIPaddress of a connection server encoded with a phone number of thecallee, which can be decoded by the connection server to further connectthe call to the callee. The reference to the callee may be an encryptedphone number of the callee, which is to be decrypted by a server toallow the telephonic apparatus to call the callee directly (e.g., via apeer to peer network). In one embodiment, the reference can furtherinclude parameters such as the search terms used to locate the listings,the time stamp of the search, an electronic coupon/promotion, a bidprice for advertisement fee, and/or a price for the service offered by aseller, etc. In one embodiment, the telephonic apparatus is configuredto report a call resulted from the advertisement to a server fortracking and/or billing purposes.

In another embodiment, a click to call button is designed to request aconnection server to call back to the customer for a connection to theentity of the listing. The click to call button may cause thepresentation of an interface to guide the customer through the callingprocessing and/or to collect a callback reference from the customer(e.g., via a web page). In some embodiments, the callback reference,such as the telephone number of the customer, can be determinedautomatically from the identity of the customer, or the identity of thedevice used by the customer. For example, a telephone number of thecustomer can be looked up from the account of the customer after thecustomer is authenticated.

In one embodiment, a telephonic apparatus is a softphone implemented atleast in part via software, such as an instant messenger, a VoIP clientapplication running on a computer, an applet embedded in a web page, abuilt-in or plug-in module of a web browser, a handheld device, apersonal digital assistant, a cellular phone, a cordless phone, aBluetooth phone, a WiFi phone, etc. The telephonic apparatus may bedesigned to make a connection based on Internet Protocol, based on apeer to peer network, based on software, and/or based on a connection toa server or a host computer, etc. In some embodiments, the telephonicapparatus is implemented via hardwire circuitry, suchApplication-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC); in some embodiments, thetelephonic apparatus is implemented partially via special purposehardwire circuitry and partially via software, such asApplication-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or Field-ProgrammableGate Array (FPGA) with software/firmware; and in some embodiments, thetelephonic apparatus is implemented using a set of general purposehardwire components that are under the control of software.

FIG. 1 shows a method to establish connections for real timecommunications according to one embodiment. In FIG. 1, user A (121)provides a contact for real time communication, such as a telephonereference of the user A. The contact can be used to establish aconnection with user A (121) through a communication network. Forexample, the contact can be a telephone number of a landline,traditional analog telephone, a cellular phone number, a phone numberwith an extension, a Universal Resource Identifier (URI) such as aSession Initiation Protocol (SIP) URI, a user identifier of a VoIPapplication, a user identifier of an instant messaging system, etc.

The contact of the user A (121) is stored in the database (125); and areference is assigned to represent the contact. Instead of providing thecontact to customers, the reference representing the contact is providedthrough the media (127) to user B (131). Thus, when the user B (131)uses the reference to request a connection with the user A (121), theconnections resulted from the advertisement can be tracked to evaluatethe performance.

In one embodiment, advertisements can be distributed via a number ofmedia channels operated by a number of demand partners. The referencecan also be assigned to identify the demand partners and/or the mediachannels used to distribute the advertisements. In one embodiment, theinformation obtained from tracking the demand partners who areresponsible for the delivery of a communication lead is used tocompensate the demand partner for each delivered communication lead.Alternatively, the demand partners may be compensated according to theadvertisement presentations made for the advertiser; and trackedinformation can be used to determine the performance and/or the costeffectiveness of the media channels.

In one embodiment, the reference can be presented via a variety of mediachannels, such as a virtual reality environment, newspaper, magazine,telephone directory, web search results, VoIP user terminals,interactive maps, banners, directory assistance service, onlinemarketplace, mobile communication devices, radio, cable/satellitetelevision, interactive television, web television, voice portal, webportal, online auction site, blog, email, bulletin board, refrigeratemagnet, brochure, etc.

In FIG. 1, the user B (131) can use the reference obtained from media(127) to request the connection provider (123) to establish a connectionor facilitate a communication channel for real time communicationsbetween the user A (121) and the user B (131). The connection provideruses the database (125) to determine the contact of the user A (121) andthen make a connection between the user A (121) and user B (131) usingthe contact of the user A (121). Alternatively, the reference mayinclude an encoded/encrypted version of the contact of the user A (121)which can be decoded/decrypted without relying upon the database (125).

In response to the user B's request for a connection, the connectionprovider (123) may establish two separate connections to the user A(121) and the user B (131) and then bridge the two connections toconnect the user A (121) and user B (131). For example, the connectionprovider (123) may determine the reference from a connection establishedbetween the user B (131) and connection provider (123) and then furtherbridge the connection to the user A (121).

In one embodiment, the connection provider (123) may provide a separatereference to represent the user B (131) and allow the user A (121) tosubsequently callback to the user B (131) via the reference thatrepresents the user B (131), if the user A (121) is not currentlyavailable for real time communications. The connection provider (123)may schedule an appointment for the user A (121) and user B (131) for areal time communication session. The connection provider (123) may senda notification to the user A (121) to inform the user A (121) about therequest for a real time communication.

Alternatively, the user terminal of the user B (131) may provide theencoded/encrypted version of the contact of the user A (121) to theconnection provider for a decoded/decrypted version of the contact ofthe user A (121) just in time when the user terminal of the user B (131)is ready to make a direct connection with a user terminal of the user A(121). For example, the user terminal of the user B (131) can use thedecoded/decrypted contact of the user A (121) to make a peer to peerconnection with the user terminal of the user A (121) without goingthrough the connection provider (123); and providing thedecoded/decrypted contact can be considered a proxy event of aconnection between the user terminal of the user B (131) and the userterminal of the user A (121). Alternatively or in combination, the userterminal of the user B (131) and/or the user terminal of the user A(121) can be configured to report to the connection provider theconnection between the user terminals. For example, a reporting messagemay include a call detail record (CDR), indicating the time period ofthe connection.

In one embodiment, the connection provider (123) tracks the connectionsmade via the reference for billing for the advertisement. For example,the connection provider (123) may charge the advertiser for eachcommunication lead deliver to the user A (121).

A communication lead may be limited to a distinct, separate customersuch that repeated calls from the same customer within a predefined timeperiod may not be counted as separate communication leads. In oneembodiment, the communication lead may also be limited by the durationof a communication session, such that a short session having a durationshorter than a predefined time period may not be counted as acommunication lead, and/or a long session having a duration longer thana predefined time period may be counted as more than one communicationlead.

In one embodiment, a number of communication leads may be bundled as apackage for a subscription fee, or a bid price. Further, the delivery ofcommunication leads may be bundled with an offer of a telecommunicationservice package. Alternatively, the advertiser may specify a bid pricethat is to be charged for each communication lead delivered, or a bidlimit (e.g., maximum bid) which is to be resolved into an actual bidbased on the bid prices of competitors in a category for a specificgeographic service area.

FIG. 2 illustrates a user interface for the creation of an advertisementaccording to one embodiment. The user interface may be presented via webin a web browser.

In FIG. 2, an interface (141) allows the advertiser to describe an offer(or a switch pitch, or a cross sell, or some advertising content). Theadvertiser can specify the business contact information for theadvertisement, including the business name, street/mailing address,phone number and fax number. The advertiser/seller is encouraged to tellcustomers via concise marketing messages what is being offered and whythe customers should call the advertiser/seller. For example, theadvertiser is encouraged to include promotional offers in the marketingmessages to get buyers to call the advertiser. Examples of promotionaloffers include: “Call today and get $5 off,” “Free consultation-limitedtime,” and “Call now and save 10%.”

In one embodiment, an audio and/or visual advertisement is generatedbased at least in part on the information submitted by the advertiservia the user interface (141) (e.g., for presentation via virtual realty,directory assistance service, search result, etc.)

In one embodiment, a short audio advertisement is generated based on theconcise marketing message (e.g., two sentences, each having a lengthlimit, such as 35 characters). The concise marketing message can be readby a human to generated a recorded audio file for a short audioadvertisement, or be converted into an audio message via atext-to-speech synthesizer. In one embodiment, the audio advertisementalso includes the business name.

In one embodiment, a visual presentation of the advertisement may beused to supplement the audio advertisement. For example, the address ofthe advertisement can be presented in a visual advertisement, togetherwith additional information that is specified in the business profilepage of the advertisement. In response to a request from the customer,the visual component of the advertisement can be sent to the customervia an SMS message, via an email, via a custom application, via aweb/WAP page, etc.

In one embodiment, the advertisement is sent to a user device in textaccording to a pre-determined format (e.g., in XML or a custom designedformat) to allow a client application running on the user device topresent the advertisement in a custom format. For example, the clientapplication may present the short marketing advertisement in an audioform via a text-to-speech synthesize and the present a selected portionof the advertisement as an animation (e.g., present an electronic couponvia an animation). For example, a Java applet can be downloaded into thebrowser of the user to facilitate VoIP-based phone communication andperform at least part of the text-to-speech operations to enableimproved compression in transmitting audio advertisements.

In one embodiment, when an advertisement is presented to the user via aweb or a virtual reality environment, the short audio advertisement canalso be included; and the audio advertisement can be playedautomatically or after the user selects the advertisement.

In FIG. 2, the interface (141) may be implemented as a web page.Alternatively, an advertisement may submit the advertising content via acustom client application, or via a message gateway (e.g., an instantmessage, an email, an SMS message, etc.). In one embodiment, one or moreadvertisements can be uploaded into a server via a spreadsheet, or via aweb service interface.

In one embodiment, the system converts the text input received from theadvertiser into an audio advertisement. In one embodiment, the audiofile for the advertisement is stored in the advertisement database;alternatively, the text input can be converted into the audioadvertisement (e.g., via a text-to-speech synthesizer, or a humanannouncer) when the audio advertisement is needed. In one embodiment,the machine synthesized audio recording are stored in the database for aperiod of time and deleted if not used after a predetermined period oftime, or when the usage of the audio advertisement is lower than athreshold.

FIG. 3 illustrates a user interface for the creation of a listingaccording to one embodiment. In FIG. 3, an entity can create a listingof service that can be delivered via a real time communicationconnection, such as a telephonic connection. The interface (143) allowsthe entity to specify a listing name with tags that can be used tocategorize the listings and/or to facilitate searching. For example, thetags of the listing can be used to match with the search criteria of acustomer, the content of document in which the listing is to bepresented, etc.

In FIG. 3, the interface (143) allows the entity (e.g., an advisor, anentertainer, an information provider, a consultant, etc.) to specify theprice of the service offered by the entity. For example, the entity mayallow a customer to talk to the entity for free for a period of timespecified in the entry box (145), or allow an indefinite period of freecommunication time. For example, the entity may request the customer toaccept a charge after a period of free time, or request the customer toaccept a charge before being connected to the entity. For example, theentity may request the customer to accept a per minute price before thecustomer is being connected to the entity for real time communication.Alternatively, the entity may provide a period of free communicationtime to the customer for a taste of the service, before requiring a perminute price specified in the interface (143).

In FIG. 3, the entity can also specify a price for a specified period oftime, such as $25.00 for 30 minutes and a policy to continue beyond the30 minutes. For example, the entity may request $25.00 for eachadditional 30 minutes in a communication session, or request the systemto end the call after the initially purchased 30-minute communicationsession, or no long charge the customer if the customer wishes tocontinue the conversation beyond the initially purchased 30-minutecommunication session.

In one embodiment, the entity can specified a set of multiple prices fordifferent purchase options; and the entity can negotiate with a customerduring an initially free communication time period to select a price.

Alternatively, the entity may be compensated according to a flat ratespecified by the system for services provided to the customers of thesystem.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a user interface to manage availabilityfor receiving phone calls according to one embodiment. An advertiser mayspecify the day and time of availability for accepting the calls forreal time communications. Based on the availability, the system mayschedule the presentation of the advertisements/communication referencesmore effectively and block unwanted calls.

In one embodiment, the system can store multiple phone numbers of theseller. The system can intelligent route a call to the seller accordingto the preference of the seller. For example, in FIG. 4, theadvertiser/seller may choose a preferred phone number from a set ofphone numbers of the seller to receive incoming calls using the optiongroup (161) in the user interface (151). The seller may indicate whetherthe seller is currently available to take calls or is to be taken “offcall” (e.g., using the check box (159)).

In one embodiment, the owner of the listing (e.g., seller, advertiser,advisor, entertainer, consultant, etc.) can request the system to makeconcurrent calls to the multiple phone numbers. The owner of the listingcan use any of the telephonic apparatuses connected at the multiplephone numbers to answer the call.

For example, an advertiser may have multiple telephonic apparatuses atdifferent telephonic references. A connection server can assign atelephonic reference to an advertisement of the advertiser. When acustomer calls the connection server at the telephonic referenceassigned to the advertisement, the connection server can further connectthe call from the customer to the advertiser via multiple concurrentcalls to the different telephonic references of the advertiser. Thus,the advertiser can take the call to talk to the customer via any of themultiple telephonic apparatuses of the advertiser.

In one embodiment, during the conversation between the customer and theadvertiser, the advertiser may request the connections server toreconnect the call to a different telephonic apparatus. For example, theconnection server can place one or more separate concurrent calls to thetelephonic references that are currently not in use for the conversationbetween the customer and the advertiser and then join the separate callswith the existing calls in a conference. This allows the advertiser toswitch from one phone to another during the conversation and to bringfamily, friends, colleagues and/or third parties into the conversation.

In one embodiment, separate concurrent calls can be placed to thetelephonic references of the advertiser that are specified prior to thecustomer's call, such as specified via the user interface (151).Alternatively, the advertiser can request a separate call to atelephonic reference specified in the request during the conversationwith the customer. For example, the advertiser may provide thetelephonic reference of a third party to invite the third party to jointhe conversation.

In one embodiment, the system is configured to drop the other concurrentcalls when the one of the concurrent calls is answered. Thus, the firstanswering telephonic apparatus is selected for the connection, althoughmultiple concurrent calls were initially placed.

In one embodiment, when multiple telephonic apparatus of the customer(or the advertiser) are answered substantially at the same time inresponse to the concurrent calls, one of the answering telephonicapparatus is selected for the connection while the others aredisconnected. The selection can be performed based on a set ofpredefined priorities among the telephonic references, or based onstatistics data about past answered calls. For example, the frequenciesof the calls being answered on the multiple telephonic references can beused to select the telephonic apparatus that most frequently answeredthe previous concurrent calls (e.g., previous concurrent calls withinthe same time window of the day as the current call). For example, thetelephonic apparatus that most recently answered the prior concurrentcalls can be selected for the current connection request. Alternatively,a random selection from the answering devices can be used to selecttelephonic apparatus for the current connection request.

In one embodiment, the multiple telephonic references of the advertiserare called for up to a predetermined period of time to allow one or moreof the multiple concurrent calls being answered. One or more answeredcalls can be joined with the call (or calls) with the other party in aconference. This provides a convenient mechanism to set up a conferencecall among multiple persons between the customer and the advertiser.

Alternatively, the multiple telephone numbers of the advertiser can becalled sequentially to connect the advertiser to the customer.

In one embodiment, the system allows the seller to specify the scheduleto receive calls; and the schedule (153) is displayed to the seller in agraphical way to help the seller to manage calls. In FIG. 4, the userinterface (151) includes a link (163) which can be selected to display auser interface (not shown in FIG. 4) to manage the schedule (153).

In one embodiment, when the schedule or the check button (159) indicatesthat the advertiser/seller is currently not available to take calls forreal time communications, the system can decrease the priority of theadvertisement for this advertiser, or stop temporarily the presentationof advertisements for this advertiser. When there is a call intended forthe advertiser at a time when the advertiser is not taking calls (e.g.,according to the schedule), the system can block the call, or direct thecall into a voice mail for the advertiser, or arrange a call at analternative time, or obtain a callback number to allow the advertiser toinitiate a callback to the customer.

In FIG. 4, the user interface (151) also includes a summary of callactivities. Buttons (157 and 155) can be selected to show graphicalrepresentation of the call activities and further details of the callactivities.

As the phone calls pass through the system, a wide array of informationcan be collected and tracked, including day/date/time of calls, durationof calls, call status (answered, no answer, busy), inbound phonenumbers, etc. Such tracked information can be used in countingcommunication leads generated from advertisements. For example, whenmultiple calls are made from the same user to the same seller within aperiod of time (e.g., a day or a week), or in connection with the sameoffered or auctioned item, these multiple calls can be considered as onequalified call or a single lead.

In one embodiment, different types of communication references can bedynamically selected for advertisements to represent the contactinformation of the corresponding advertisers. A communication referenceused to represent the contact of an advertiser may be a traditionalphone number with or without an extension, a click-to-call reference, aSIP address for VoIP call, a click-to-reveal reference, etc. Thecommunication reference can be embedded into an advertisement to countthe communication leads generated from advertisements, to track thecontributions of demand partners who operate media channels to presentthe advertisements to customers, and/or to track other aspects ofadvertising, such as partners who bring the advertisers/sellers to thesystem and the keywords responsible for the selection of theadvertisement for presentation.

In one embodiment, the tracking mechanism used for a particular versionof a particular advertisement is selected from a number of availablemechanisms, based on one or more considerations such as the volume orfrequency of calls generated from the advertisement, the conversion rateof the advertisement (e.g., the ratio between a count of presentationsof the advertisement and a count of communication leads generated fromthe presentations), the price per communication lead that the advertiseris willing to pay for the advertisement according to a price bidspecified by the advertiser, a potential revenue for a particular partyin the advertising activity, a classification or category of theadvertisement (e.g., the category of service or product advertised inthe advertisement), a geographical area served by the advertisement, thedemand partner who is going to present the advertisement (e.g., thesuccess rate of the demand partner in reaching viable customers incomparison with other demand partners), etc.

FIG. 5 shows a diagram illustrating a method to select a type oftracking mechanism with a corresponding reference for embedding in anadvertisement according to one embodiment. In FIG. 5, multiple types oftracking mechanisms are used in the system. The tracking mechanism usedfor an advertisement or a version of the advertisement can bedynamically selected and changed. For example, different versions of anadvertisement can be generated for delivery by different demandpartners.

In FIG. 5, a pool (189) of different types of references is maintained,such as local phone numbers (171), 800-numbers (173), 888-numbers (175),877-numbers (177), 866-numbers (179). Some of the references can bedynamically generated and used, such as extensions (181), SIP addresses(183), click-to-assign references (185) and click-to-callback references(187). In one embodiment, one or more of the references are selected andused as the assigned reference (193) that is embedded in theadvertisement (191). In one embodiment, the assignment is based at leastpartially on factors related to the advertisement, such as call volume,conversion rate, revenue potential, category, geography, demand partner,etc.

In one embodiment, the reference of a particular type is selected andassigned to the advertisement when the advertisement is being requestedfor delivery. When the advertisement is subsequently requested, thepreviously assigned reference can be used. Alternatively, when theadvertisement is subsequently requested, a different reference of are-selected type can be selected and assigned to the advertisement,based on the considerations such as the call volume in a past timeperiod, conversion rate, price bid, etc. After the new reference isassigned to the advertisement, the previous reference can be assigned toa different advertisement.

In one embodiment, before the expiration of the previously assignedreference for an advertisement delivered by a demand partner, a newreference can be assigned to the advertisement for delivery by the samedemand partner. Thus, multiple references can be associated with a sameset of parameters in a time period. Further, since some of thereferences can be re-assigned to a different advertisement, onereference may be associated with multiple sets of parameters (e.g., fordifferent advertisements). In one embodiment, when a reference isassociated multiple sets of parameters, the parameter set that is mostrecently assigned to and associated with an advertisement has thehighest priority; and when the reference is used to request acommunication connection with an advertiser, the customer can beprompted to confirm the set of parameters (directly or indirectly)before the set of parameters are used to connect the customer to theadvertiser.

In one embodiment, a communication reference that is specific to aselected tracking mechanism is allocated or selected or generated for aparticular advertisement. The communication reference is embedded intothe advertisement to generate a particular version of the advertisement.

In one embodiment, the tracking mechanism is selected at a time when theparticular version of the advertisement is needed for presentation(e.g., when the version of the advertisement is to be delivered to amedia channel, a demand partner, or to a web browser of a customer). Thecorresponding communication reference is allocated or selected orgenerated when the tracking mechanism is selected.

In one embodiment, the selected tracking mechanism can be dynamicallychanged at a time when the particular version of the advertisement isneeded for presentation (e.g., when the version of the advertisement isto be delivered to a demand partner or to a web browser of a customer).For example, the tracking mechanism used in an advertisement that is tobe presented via a particular demand partner can be upgraded ordowngraded based on the statistical data collected from the pastactivities related to the advertisement.

In one embodiment, a version of an advertisement can have multipleassigned references corresponding to different types of trackingmechanisms. For example, a version of an advertisement may include a SIPaddress, a reference to arrange a callback and a reference to request anassigned phone number.

The SIP address may be presented in a click-to-call format via a VoIPapplication. When the customer has a VoIP application readily available,the customer may choose to make the phone call via the SIP addresswithout requesting for a traditional telephone number.

The reference to arrange a callback can be implemented as a link or abutton labeled as “Request a phone connection through calling me back”.In one embodiment, a form to take the callback number is presented withthe link or button. Alternatively, when the link or the button isselected, a further interface (e.g., a web page, a dialog box, etc.) canbe displayed to guide the customer through the process of connecting thecustomer to the advertiser through calling back the customer.

The reference to request an assigned phone number can be implemented asa link or a button labeled as “Show me a phone number”, which whenselected, causes a phone number to be assigned to the version of theadvertisement. After a phone number is assigned to the version of theadvertisement, the advertisement can be subsequently displayed with theassigned phone number without showing the reference to request anassigned phone number.

Alternatively, when the “Show me a phone number” link or button isselected, the complete phone number of the advertiser can be shown toallow the customer to call the advertiser directly. In such animplementation, the number of times that the advertiser's phone numberis clicked to reveal can be used as a performance indicator, based onwhich the advertisement is charged for.

In one embodiment, after a period of time of serving the advertisement,statistical data related to consumer responses to the advertisement canbe collected and used to adjust the tracking mechanisms for theadvertisement. For example, if it is determined that the majority of thephone calls in response to the advertisement is via the SIP address,other tracking mechanisms may be de-allocated from the advertisement, orre-allocated for a different advertisement. Alternatively, the referencemay be phased out from the advertisement while the reference isallocated to a different advertisement.

For instance, if an advertisement has a high call volume (e.g., receivesmany calls), it may be upgraded for a more expensive method of tracking.An advertisement with an extension may be upgraded to a local phonenumber without an extension, or even a vanity toll-free number, if theperformance of the advertisement is above a threshold (e.g., when itsconversion rate or call volume is high). Conversely, advertisements thatperform poorly may be downgraded in tracking methods used. For example,an advertisement tracked by a toll-free number without an extension maybe downgraded to have a number with an extension, a click-to-callconnection mechanism.

The tracking mechanism of an advertisement can be determined not only bythe performance of an advertisement, but also by the quality of thedemand partner or the quality of the customer viewing the advertisement.For example, one advertisement may use an expensive tracking mechanismon one demand partner but may be assigned a different, inexpensivetracking mechanism on a second demand partner who tends to have lowerquality customers (e.g., customers who response less frequently toadvertisements). The quality of a demand partner may be reflected uponon the difference in the conversion rate of a same advertisementpresented via different demand partners, in the numbers of the potentialcustomers the demand partners can reach, the quality of the customers ofthe demand partners, etc. In another embodiment, the tracking mechanismis directly determined by the quality of the customer himself/herself.For instance, information can be collected about the customerinteracting with the advertisements; if the customer is a frequentbuyer, an expensive tracking mechanism can be used for the customer. Thequality of a customer may also reflected upon the preferences of thecustomer, the spending habit of the customer, the response rate of thecustomer to advertisements, the need of the customer, etc. In this case,different customers of different buying tendencies may see theadvertisement using different tracking mechanisms at the same demandpartners.

In one embodiment, the likelihood of an advertisement being called isestimated based on the type of media channels used to present theadvertisement, the demand partner responsible to deliver theadvertisement, and/or the customer who views the advertisement. Anycharacteristics in advertising that have an impact on the likelihood ofan advertisement being called and thus the expected revenue/profitgenerated from the presentation of the advertisement can be used inselecting a tracking mechanism for the particular instance of theadvertisement.

In one example, if it is determined that the number of communicationleads generated from the assigned phone number is lower than athreshold, the assigned phone number may be reallocated to anotheradvertisement. If the number of communication leads generated from theadvertisement is higher than a threshold, the tracking mechanism usedfor the advertisement may be promoted to a phone number with a short orvanity extension, a phone number without an extension, a vanity phonenumber, a toll free phone number, a vanity toll free number, a localphone number, or a vanity local phone number. If the number ofcommunication leads generated from the advertisement is lower than athreshold, the tracking mechanism may be downgraded, freeing up trackingresources for other advertisements.

In one example, when advertisements are provided to a demand partnerthat has a lower success rate in reaching viable customers than otherdemand partners, this demand partner may be represented using a longextension, leaving short extensions for other demand partners.Alternatively, the advertisements for presentation by the demand partnermay be tracked using references for callback or SIP addresses.

In one example, the system may promote the advertisement activities inone geographic area; and the advertisements served in that geographicarea receive upgrades in tracking mechanism.

In one example, the advertisements in certain categories of products andservices use upgraded tracking mechanisms.

In one embodiment, the advertisements with a pay per communication leadprice bid higher than a threshold receives an upgrade in trackingmechanism.

In one embodiment, the system determines weighting factors in varioustypes of communication references (e.g., in terms of cost and benefit inpromoting the advertisement), the success rate of the advertisement invarious communication channel/demand partner, and the price bids of theadvertisers. Based on the collected information, the system can selecttracking mechanisms to optimize the potential revenue that can begenerated from advertising. In one embodiment, the potential revenueincludes the advertisement revenue and/or other revenue that can begenerated from the advertisement. For example, when the system takes acommission from the transaction resulted from the advertisement, thepotential revenue can include the expected commission from thepresentation of the advertisement; and in such a case the system mayfurther use the statistical data related to the successful rate of acall converting into a transaction, an average value of a transaction,the possibility of a repeated call, the average value of a repeatedcall, etc., in the determination of the potential revenue. In oneembodiment, advertisements may qualify for better tracking mechanismswhen their pay-per-call bid price reaches a certain value. Similarly,advertisements may qualify for better tracking mechanisms when theiroverall value reaches a certain threshold. Their overall value can be afunction of their bid price, ordinal position, conversion rate, demandsource, customer quality, etc.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of telephone call tracking mechanismswhich can be selected according to one embodiment.

In FIG. 6, a phone number (207) without an extension is assigned for thegeneration a particular version (213) of an advertisement (209). In thedatabase (201), the assigned phone number (207) is associated with themedia channel (203) and the advertiser's phone number (205) (and/orother parameters to be tracked). Thus, the parameters to be tracked canbe identified based at least partially on the assigned phone number(207). The particular version (213) of the advertisement (209) that hasthe assigned phone number (207) is provided to the customer (217) viathe media channel (215). The advertisement may instruct or suggest thecustomer to call the assigned phone number (207) to reach theadvertiser. In response to the advertisement, the customer may call theassigned phone number (207). When the connection provider (221) iscalled at the assigned phone number via a telephone carrier, theconnection provider (221) can identify the assigned phone number (e.g.,via a Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS)) and determine theadvertiser's phone number (205) based at least partially on the assignedphone number (207). Further, using the assigned phone number, it canalso be determined that the phone call from the customer is a responseto an advertisement that is delivered via the media channel (215) basedon the association between the assigned phone number (207) and the mediachannel (203) in the database (201).

In one embodiment, after determining the advertiser's phone number fromthe assigned phone number that is dialed by the customer (217), theconnection provider (221) makes a separate call to the advertiser (225)via a telephone carrier. When both the customer (217) and the advertiser(225) are on the line with the connection provider (221), the connectionprovider (221) can bridge or conference the calls to connect thecustomer (217) and the advertiser (225). Alternatively, the connectionprovider (221) may forward the calls from the customer (217) to theadvertiser (225) after determining the advertiser's phone number.

In one embodiment, the assigned phone number can be a phone number thatis local to the area to be served by the advertisement. Alternatively,the assigned phone number can be a toll free phone number, such as an800-(888-, 877, or 866-) number. In one embodiment, the assigned phonenumber is a vanity number that spells one or more words on a dial pad ona phone, such as 1-800-PLUMBER for the advertisement of a plumber.Alternatively, the assigned phone number can be a plain phone number.

It is recognized that a local phone number is easy to dial manually, avanity number is easy to remember, and an 800-number is easier toremember than other toll free numbers. Thus, there are different valuesin advertising in the different types of assigned phone numbers.

Since maintaining different phone numbers may increase the trackingcost, another type of tracking mechanism uses different extensions todifferentiate tracked parameters. For example, different root phonenumbers can be used to represent different media channels; and differentextensions can be used to represent different advertisers. In anotherexample, different root phone numbers are used to represent differentadvertisers; and different extensions are used to represent differentmedia channels. In another example, the entire assigned phone number,including the root phone number and the extension, is used as a key tolook up the media channel and the advertiser's phone number. In afurther example, the root phone numbers are not used to differentiatetracked parameters; and the tracked parameters are represented by theextensions, which may be implemented as keys to look up the parametersor as encoded/encrypted version of the parameters.

In one embodiment, after the customer dials the root number, thecustomer is connected to an IVR system or a human operator of theconnection provider/tracker. After the customer provides the extensionto the IVR system or the human operator, the tracked parameters, such asthe media channel and/or the advertiser's phone number, can bedetermined.

In one embodiment, the IVR system or the human operator can prompt thecustomer for the extension that is provided in the advertisement. Whenthe dialed root number is sufficient to identify information about themedia channel, the IVR system or the human operator may customize theprompt to include the information of the media channel and ask thecustomer to further provide the extension to reach the desiredadvertiser. When the dialed root number is sufficient to identifyinformation about the advertiser, the IVR system or the human operatormay customize the prompt to include the information of the advertiserand ask the customer to further provide the extension to reach thedesired advertiser.

The extension can be a plain extension or a vanity extension that spellsone or more words on a dial pad on a phone, such as extension PLUMBERfor the advertisement of a plumber. In one embodiment, extensions usedin the system can have different lengths. A shorter extension is easy todial; and a vanity extension is easy to remember. In one embodiment, theextension includes an encoded/encrypted version of the associatedparameter to allow an authorized data system to decode/decrypt at leastsome of the parameters without having to query the database. Thus,different types of extensions can have different values in advertising.

The tracking methods described can have different costs. A toll-freenumber with many extensions, for instance, is much cheaper than manyvanity toll-free numbers. Therefore, the system uses the more expensivemethods when it's worthwhile to do so. For instance, if an advertisementreceives many calls, it may be selected for a more expensive method oftracking. An advertisement with an extension may in the future beupgraded to a local phone number without an extension, or even a vanitytoll-free number. Similarly, an advertisement may qualify for a moreexpensive method of tracking if its conversion rate is high (e.g., if ithas a high ratio of the number of calls it receives to the number oftimes it is displayed). Conversely, advertisements that perform poorlymay be downgraded in tracking methods used. For example, anadvertisement tracked by a toll-free number may be downgraded to have aless expensive, click-to-call connection mechanism.

In one embodiment, the connection provider calls the customer instead ofproviding a phone number to receive a phone call from the customer. Forexample, the reference assigned to represent the contact of theadvertiser may not be used to make a call via a traditional telephonecarrier. The reference can be submitted to the connection provider via adata communication, such as an email, an SMS message, a web request, orother types of data communication. The reference can be used as a key inthe database to look up the associated parameters, such as the mediachannel and the advertiser's phone number. In one embodiment, thereference is an encoded/encrypted version of the associated parameters,such that an authorized data system can decode/decrypt the informationwithout having to look up from the database. After the reference isprovided to the connection provider with the request for a connection,the connection provider can callback to the customer to establish theconnection between the customer and the advertiser. The request mayinclude a callback phone number of the customer. Alternatively, acustomer may be prompted to provide the callback phone number inresponse to the request. The connection provider can connect thecustomer and the advertiser by calling the customer and the advertiserseparately and bridge/conferences the calls, or by forwarding one call(e.g., the call to the customer) to another (e.g., to the advertiser).

In one embodiment, a telephone number assigned to a version of anadvertisement includes a SIP address for the initiation of a VoIP-basedtelephone call. The SIP address can be used for a manually dialed callon a SIP-enabled phone, or be used in a click to call format. In oneembodiment, the SIP address includes an encoded/encrypted version of thecontact of the advertiser such that the connection provider candecode/decrypt the contact of the advertiser from the SIP addresswithout having to look up from database.

In one embodiment, the allocation of a telephone number to anadvertisement is deferred to a stage when a customer is interested inthe advertisement and ready to make a phone call. A reference embeddedin the advertisement can be used to specifically request for thetelephone number that is assigned to the advertiser by the connectionprovider. The request can be sent as a web request in response to aclick on a link, or as an email, an SMS message, or an instant message.The assigned telephone number may be a toll free phone number withoutextension, a local phone number with an extension, a SIP URL, etc.Alternatively, the reference can be used to request the actual phonenumber of the advertiser.

FIG. 7 shows a diagram of a system to make and track phone connectionsaccording to one embodiment. In FIG. 7, a database (251) may contain thephone numbers of target phone A (261), target phone B (263), . . . ,target phone X (269), etc. Typically, the target phones belong to theinstitutions, businesses, individuals, etc, which seek for publicitythrough various media channels, such as media channel A (231) (e.g., webserver), media channel B (232) (e.g., WAP server), media channel C (233)(e.g., short messaging service center), media channel D (234) (e.g.,custom server), media channel E (237) (e.g., cable television), mediachannel E (238) (e.g., news press), media channel G (239) (e.g., radiostation), and others such as virtual reality, directory assistanceservice, interactive maps, etc.

In one embodiment, the phone numbers of the target phones are notdirectly publicized over the media channels. Instead, encoded targetphone numbers (253) are used. Using the encoded target phone numbers(253), a user cannot reach target phones directly. The encoded targetphone numbers (253) allow the association of additional information withthe target phone numbers, such as the media channels used, specialpromotions, etc.

The encoded target phone numbers are delivered with content information(e.g., web page, WAP page, short message, television programs, newsarticles, virtual reality, etc.) to user devices, such as user device A(241) (e.g., cellular phone), user device B (242) (e.g., personaldigital assistant (PDA)), user device C (243) (e.g., computer), userdevice D (246) (e.g., receiver), user device E (248) (e.g., newspaper).

In one embodiment, a user device can include a USB phone, a Bluetoothwireless phone, or one or more speakers or headphones with one ormicrophones for the implementation of a software based phone(softphone).

In one embodiment, the user devices/phones support one or more real timecommunication capabilities, such as VoIP using Session InitiationProtocol (SIP) which may support video and instant-messagingapplications, IP phone, regular phone over VoIP service, Bluetoothwireless phone, USB phone, software based phone, and other forms of IPtelephony. In one embodiment, the user devices/phones support thedisplay of virtual reality.

In one embodiment, the user device can include a television set toreceive the advertisement. Further, the television set may have thecapability to accept user input so that the television content may bechanged according to the user input (e.g., interactive television, webtelevision, internet television, etc.), or be coupled with a set top boxwhich has such capability. The user input may be provided to the contentprovider through the same communication channel in which the televisioncontent/programs are delivered (e.g., a cable system of a cabletelevision system), or a separate channel (e.g., a phone line, anInternet connection, etc.). The user input may include a request to makea connection to an advertiser featured in an advertisement presented ina television program, such as a request for a telephonic connection tothe advertiser.

In one embodiment, the user devices are mobile devices, such as PDA,cellular phone, etc. The user devices obtain content information,including advertisements, through wireless communication connections,such as cellular communication links, wireless access points forwireless local area network, etc.

In one embodiment, a user device (e.g., a cellular phone, a computer, aPDA) can receive content information from multiple types of mediachannels (e.g., a web server, a WAP server, an SMSC, CHTML, etc.).

In one embodiment, a user device is capable to dial a phone call (e.g.,automatically according to the encoded phone number embedded in thecontent information when a user selects the number). Alternatively, auser may manually dial a phone call using a separate phone, such as userphone S (247) or user phone T (249).

In one embodiment, dialing at least a portion of an encoded target phonenumber connects the phone call to a connection server (255) first.According to the encoded target phone number dialed, the connectionserver (255) determines the corresponding target phone number using thedatabase (251) and connects the phone call to the corresponding targetphone (e.g., one of target phones 261-269) through the communicationnetwork (257).

Note the communication network (257) may be circuit switched, packetswitched, or partially circuit switched and partially packet switched.For example, the telephone network may partially use the Internet tocarry the phone call (e.g., through VoIP). For example, the connectionbetween the user phone/device and the connection server (255) may becarried using VoIP; and the connection between the connection server(255) and the target phone may be carried using a land-line based,circuit switched telephone network.

In one embodiment, the information associated with the encoded targetphone number, such as the media channel used to provide the encodedtarget phone number to the users, is also decoded/retrieved using thedatabase (251). Thus, the information associated with the encoded targetphone number can be tracked/stored.

In one embodiment, the connection server (255) also determines the phonenumber of the user through Automatic Number Identification (ANI). ANI isa phone system feature that provides the billing phone number of theperson making the phone call.

The information about the caller, target phone number, the media channelused for delivering the contact information to the user can be used tobill the caller and/or the target phone number, and providecredit/compensation for the corresponding media channel.

For example, the advertisements for target phone numbers can be paid foron a pay per call basis. Monitoring and tracking the calls can be usedfor billing the advertisers. Alternatively, the users may be seeking thecontact information on a pay per call basis. Monitoring and tracking thecalls can be used for billing the users.

In one embodiment, the additional information associated with theencoded target phone number is used to provide credit/compensation tothe operators of the corresponding media channels that are responsiblefor leading the users to the phone calls to the target phones. Thesystem can further track the time and duration of the phone calls andother information, such as conditional promotions, electronic coupons,etc.

The information about the media channels that are responsible forleading the users to the phone calls to the target phones can also beuseful for the advertisers. The advertisers may wish to know which mediachannel is more effective in reaching users. For example, using thestatistic information about the media channels which successfully bringin phone calls, the advertisers may fine tune advertisement strategies.Further, different media channels may charge differently for theadvertisements; and the advertisers may bid differently on differentmedia channels for their advertisements.

In one embodiment, an encoded target phone number has the same number ofdigits as a standard phone number (e.g., a typical telephone numberassigned by a telephone company). Thus, dialing the encoded target phonenumber is as easy as dialing the target phone number; and dialing thetarget phone number reaches the connection server (255). In such anarrangement, a large number of encoded phone numbers are generallyrequired to differentiate the different target phones and differentmedia channels.

In one embodiment, an encoded target phone number has more digits than astandard phone number. A first portion of the encoded target phonenumber has the same number of digits as a standard phone number to reachthe connection server (255) through the communication network (257); anda second portion of the encoded target phone number is to be decoded bythe connection server (255). For example, the Dual Tone Multi-Frequency(DTMF) decoder can be installed in the connection server (255) to detectthe second portion of the encoded target phone number dialed at the userphone. The detected phone number can then be used to recover the targetphone number. In one embodiment, a human operator or an interactivevoice response (IVR) system can be used to receive the second portion ofthe encoded target phone number for decoding.

When an encoded target phone number has more digits than a standardphone number, the additional digits can be implemented as a telephoneextension, or as input to an IVR system. In one embodiment, an encodedtarget phone number includes a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) addressfor the initiation of a VoIP call to the system.

In one embodiment, a single telephone number is used to reach theconnection server (255) for different target phone numbers; and theportion of the encoded target phone number that is used to reach theconnection server (255) is not used in determining the informationassociated with the encoded target phone number.

Alternatively, multiple telephone numbers can be used to reach theconnection server (255); and the entire encoded target phone number canbe used to determine the information associated with the encoded targetphone number.

In one embodiment, the encoded target phone numbers can have differentnumbers of digits. The advertisers may be arranged to bid for shorterencoded target phone numbers.

In one embodiment, the encoded target phone numbers are assigned onlywhen needed for use in a media channel. For example, when a query isreceived at the server of the system, the system assigns phone numbersfor the advertisements that satisfy the query.

In one embodiment, a look-up table approach is used to encode theinformation. For example, the database (251) keeps track of theinformation about the media channel and the target phone number (andother information, if any) for the encoded target phone number so thatthe encoded target phone number can be used as a key to retrieve thecorresponding information. Thus, it is not necessary to have apredetermined structure to encode the information about the mediachannels and the target phone number.

Alternatively, algorithms can be used to generate and encode targetphone number and associated information. For example, a predeterminedalgorithm may be used to encode different information in the targetphone number. For example, the target phone number may include a numberof fields separated by “*” or “#”. Each of the fields can be decodedseparately (e.g., from a separate look up table or a mapping algorithm)to determine the target phone number, identity of the media channel,etc.

For example, a set of parameters can be mapped from a string ofcharacters to a string of numerical digits as a part of the encodedtarget phone number; and the string of numbers can be mapped back intothe string of characters at the connection server (255). When such amapping scheme is used, a look up table is not necessary. For example,an encoded target phone number may include a first portion that is thephone number of the connection server (255), a second portion that isthe target phone number appended with a number mapped from an identifierof the media channel. To prevent the user from dialing the target phonenumber directly, an encryption/scrambling scheme can be used to encodethe second portion, which is decoded at the connection server (255).

In one embodiment, the connection server (255) determines the targetphone number from the encoded target phone number dialed by the user andthen dials the target phone number for the user and joins/bridges thephone calls so that the user can talk to the target phone.

In one embodiment, users dial the encoded target phone numbers manually.A user can dial the encoded target phone number regardless of the userdevice used and the media channel used.

Alternatively, in one embodiment, user devices can automatically dialthe encoded target phone numbers. For example, a cellular phone, acomputer or a PDA can dial a phone number using a Dual ToneMulti-Frequency (DTMF) generator. In one embodiment, the encoded targetphone numbers are presented in the content information in a format suchthat when the user selects the phone number the user device (e.g., acellular phone or a computer) dials the encoded target phone number forthe user. The user selection may be in the form of a keyboard/keypadinput, a touch pad input, a track ball input, a mouse input, a voicecommand, etc.

In one embodiment, the user device initiates the phone call through aVoIP system when the user selects the encoded target phone number.

In one embodiment, the user device dials the phone number for the userwithout the user manually pressing the sequence of the encoded targetphone numbers. This greatly simplifies the process of make the phonecall. Since a user device can dial a long sequence of number easily, alarge number of digits can be used to encode the information withoutpresenting any difficulties for the users.

In one embodiment, the encoded target phone numbers are formatted sothat the user device dials a first portion of the encoded target phonenumbers to access the connection server (255), pauses for a short periodof time for the connection server (255) to prepare for receiving thesecond portion of the encoded target phone numbers, and then dials thesecond portion of the encoded target phone numbers. Thus, the userdevice provides a user-friendly way of dialing the encoded target phonenumbers; and, making the phone call can be as easy as making a “click”to access a web page.

In FIG. 7, the user device initiates the phone call. Alternatively, aconnection server may be used to initiate phone calls both to the userdevice (or a separate user phone) and the target phone and thenjoin/bridge the phone calls to connect the user to the target phone. Forexample, when the user selects the encoded target phone number, theselection of the target phone number is transmitted to the connectionserver with the user phone number.

The user phone number can be automatically determined through ANI, orthrough a user preference setting, or through an entry submitted withthe selection of the encoded target phone number.

In one embodiment, the selection of the encoded target phone number istransmitted to the corresponding media channel, which forwards therequest for making the phone call to a server (e.g., a web server)connected to the connection server. Alternatively, the contentinformation can be formatted so that the selection is sent directly tothe connection server.

When the connection server starts the phone calls, the encoded targetphone number can also include alphabetic characters (and/or othercharacters). The connection server can decode the encoded target phonenumber to recover/retrieve the target phone number and other associatedinformation, such as the identity of the media channel that iscreditable for providing the encoded target phone number to user.

In one embodiment, an advertisement is presented to end users around theglobe without geographical area limitations. For example, an advertisermay provide services and/or products to customers around the globe. Theadvertisement may be delivered to the worldwide users of the Internet.

In one embodiment, the intended audience of an advertisement is thepopulation in a particular geographical area or people interested in aparticular geographical area. For example, an advertiser may limit itsservice area within a geographical area, where the advertiser canprovide services and/or products to the customers more effectively. Forexample, a business may better serve the customers within a convenientwalking/driving distance to the site of the business. A business maylimit the service area within a city, a county, a state, a country, orother types of regional areas. Further, a large business entity havingoffices around the world may want to attract customers in differentgeographical regions to different offices for better services.

In one embodiment, a target geographic area is specified for publicizinga phone number which can be used to reach an advertiser. The targetgeographic area information can be used to effectively reach potentialcustomers and connect the customers to the corresponding phones of theadvertisers.

For example, in one embodiment, the advertiser can specify a geographicservice area corresponding to a phone number. The service area may bespecified in terms of radius, city, region, state or national boundary,etc. The service area can be used to limit the delivery of theadvertisement to customers seeking information in the correspondinggeographic area. The service area can be used to stream information intoa mobile device when the mobile device enters the service area, with orwithout explicit request from the user of the mobile device. The servicearea information can also be used to route the phone to thecorresponding one of the offices of the advertiser, based on thelocation of the caller, if the advertiser has more than one office.

In one embodiment, an advertisement presented in a media channel is fora single advertiser. The end user selects an advertiser according to theadvertisements presented on behalf of individual advertisers; and theconnection server connects the end user and the selected advertiseraccording to the encoded target phone number individually publicized inthe advertisement for the advertiser. When the user views the onlineadvertisements, the selection of the advertiser is based on the onlineinformation.

In one embodiment, an advertisement is presented in a media channel fora group of advertisers, such as a group of mortgage brokers. Theadvertisement contains an encoded target phone number which is reachableto the group of mortgage brokers. When the encoded target phone numberis selected or used, the selection of a particular advertiser isperformed at the connection server.

For example, a toll-free number is published to advertise mortgagebrokers in a particular geographic area. When a consumer dials thetoll-free number, the call is routed to the highest bidding mortgagebroker who is available in that market.

The connection server may select the target advertiser according to thebidding of the advertisers for the advertisement. The advertiser whoplaces the highest bid is the winner for the call. Alternatively, or incombination, other types of selection criteria can also be used. Forexample, the user may be interested in advertisers in a particulargeographical region; and the geographical area of interest to the callercan be determined and used in selecting the target advertiser. Further,the user may be interested in a connection without excessive waitingtime. The status of the availability of the advertisers to answer thecall can be used in ranking the candidates for routing the call.

In general, an indicator used to rank the candidates may be a functionof a number of parameters, such as the bid for the advertisement, theprojected waiting time, an indicator showing a degree of matching to oneor more user requirements (e.g., geographic area, service type, etc.),advertisement budget, and others.

In one embodiment, a connection provider uses a connection serverconfigured on a packet switched network to provide telephone connectionsbetween callers (e.g., customers) and callees (e.g., advertisers), asillustrated in FIG. 8. In FIG. 8, the connection server (277) receivesand/or places telephone calls via the telecommunication carrier (275)over the packet switched network (279). The telecommunication carrier(275) further routes the telephone communications towards the caller(271) and the callee (273).

Since the telecommunication carrier (275) can route a call from a packetswitched network to a variety of destinations (e.g., a traditionalanalog telephone set, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a WiFi phone, aBluetooth phone, a softphone running on a computer, etc.), theconnection sever (277) can use one type of communication connection withthe telephone carrier (275) to facilitate the communication connectionswith variety of devices used by the customers (e.g., callers andcallees). Thus, the implementation of the connection server (277) can besimplified. In one embodiment, the connection server (277) can alsoplace and/or receive direct VoIP calls to/from the caller (or callee).

For example, to make a voice connection in response to a click-to-callrequest, the connection server can place separate VoIP calls, via thetelecommunication carrier (275), to the caller (271) (e.g., therequester of the click-to-call) and the callee (273) (e.g., thedestination of the click-to-call request).

If the caller (271) (or the callee 273) is on a public switchedtelephone network (PSTN), the telecommunication carrier (275) bridgesthe packet switched the network and the public switched telephonenetwork (PSTN). The telecommunication carrier (275) routes the call fromthe packet switched network (279) to the caller (271) (or the callee273) on the circuit switched network. Thus, the caller (271) (or thecallee 273) can use a telephone set to receive the call via a Plain OldTelephone Service (POTS). The connection server (277) joins the separatecalls that are placed via the packet switched network (279) to connectthe callee (273) and the caller (271).

In one embodiment, call signaling and media content may use differentnetwork paths. While call signaling is arranged to go through the packetswitched network (279) and the connection server (277), the media streamdoes not have to go through the connection server (277). For example,when the calls are joined, the media content may be redirected to flowover the communication carrier (275) without going through the packetswitched network (279) to the connection server (277) for improvedperformance and efficiency. The connection server (277) can release thecontrol over the media stream to allow the media stream to flow throughthe shortest path, without going through the connection server, whilemaintaining control to the connection for the call by staying on thepath for call signaling.

In another example, when the caller (271) initiates a call over a PSTNto the connection server (277), the telecommunication carrier (275)converts the call for the packet switched network (279) for theconnection server (277).

In one embodiment, virtual softphones on the telecommunication carrier(275) are assigned to the caller (271) and the callee (273) forinterfacing with the connection server (277) over the packet switchednetwork (279). The virtual softphones encapsulates the devices andnetworks used by the caller (271) and callee (273) to access theconnection server (277); and the telecommunication carrier (275) shieldsthe connection server (277) from the implementation details of the userdevices and networks used by the caller (271) and the callee (273). Theconnection server (277) calls (or receives calls from) and connects thevirtual softphones on the telecommunication carrier (275) to connect thecaller (271) and the callee (273).

In FIG. 8, the telephone connection between the telecommunicationcarrier (275) and the connection server (277) is facilitated via apacket switched network (279). Thus, the connection server (277) canoperate efficiently in a digital domain. The connection server (277)interfaces with the telecommunication carrier (275) using one type ofInternet Telephony systems (e.g., SIP-based Internet telephony).

Alternatively, a connection server may include some or all of thefunctionality of the telecommunication carrier (275). For example, theconnection server may be configured to bridge a packet switched networkand a circuit switched network. The connection server may supportmultiple, different types of Internet Telephony systems.

In one embodiment, the connection server (277) and the telecommunicationcarrier (275) are operated by different, separate entities.Alternatively, the connection server (277) and the telecommunicationcarrier (275) may be operated by the same entity. In another embodiment,the telecommunication carrier (275) includes a set of facilitiesoperated by a number of separate entities.

In one embodiment, the caller (271) and/or the callee (273) may alsoplace/receive calls via a packet switched network. The telecommunicationcarrier (275) may route the calls between the caller (271) and thecallee (273) without using a PSTN. In one embodiment, caller (271)and/or the callee (273) may place calls to or receive calls from theconnection server (277) via Internet.

FIG. 9 shows a connection server according to one embodiment. In FIG. 9,the connection server (355) is configured to place and/or receive VoIPcalls using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). A session bordercontroller (351) is used to interface with the packet switched network(353) and control the types of network traffic related to VoIP callsthat might go into the connection server (355).

In one embodiment, the session border controller (351) is configured tocontrol the signaling and media stream during the setting up, conductingand tearing down of VoIP calls to or from the connection server (355).In some embodiments, the session border controller (351) may pick up thecall that comes to the session border controller (351), places aseparate call from the session border controller (351), and joins thereceived call and the placed call to control both the signaling andmedia stream. In some embodiments, the session border controller (351)may perform signaling/encoding translation to allow the connectionserver (355) to process the VoIP calls in one standard, while receivingVoIP calls in a variety of standards (e.g., SIP, H.323, etc.). In oneembodiment, the session border controller (351) is configured to performone or more firewall functionalities, such as denial of serviceprotection, call filtering, bandwidth management, etc.

In one embodiment, the session border controller (351) is configured toperform media releasing operation. When the session border controller(351) determines that the source and destination of a media stream is onthe same side of the session border controller (351) (e.g., both thesource and the destination of the media stream is outside the connectionserver 355), the session border controller (351) can release thehairpinning of the media stream and allow the media stream to flowwithout going through the session border controller (351).

In FIG. 9, a set of SIP servers (e.g., 361, 363, . . . , 369) arenetworked to the session border controller (351) to receive messages forincoming calls and to initiate outgoing calls. The session bordercontroller (351) is configured to evenly distribute the calls forprocessing by the SIP servers.

For example, when an incoming message for the initiation of a call isreceived (e.g., a SIP INVITE message from the telecommunication carrier275), the session border controller (351) may route it to a SIP server(e.g., 361) for processing. The INVITE message includes the phone numberdialed by the caller and the contact information about the caller (e.g.,the phone number of the caller 271 and/or the identity of the virtualSIP phone at the telecommunication carrier 275).

The SIP server may determine whether the phone number dialed by thecaller (273) is sufficient to determine the phone number of the callee(e.g., 273). If the phone number of the callee (e.g., 273) can bedetermined from the phone number dialed by the caller (273) (e.g., viadecoding the phone number dialed by the callee, or looking up the phonenumber of the callee from a table using the phone number dialed by thecaller as a key), the SIP server can place a separate SIP call to thecallee via the packet switched network (353) and then connect the callerand the callee. Alternatively, the SIP server can further route the SIPINVITE message (e.g., to the telecommunication carrier (275) to directthe call to the callee. For example, the SIP server may modify theINVITE message by replacing the destination with the determined phonenumber of the callee. Further, the SIP server can modify the INVITEmessage by removing the phone number of the caller (or replacing thephone number of the caller with a phone number of the connectionserver). In one embodiment, the modified INVITE message identifies thevirtual softphone corresponding to the caller on the telecommunicationcarrier as the SIP phone initiated the call; thus, the virtual softphonecorresponding to the callee on the telecommunication carrier canestablish media connection with the virtual softphone corresponding tothe caller on the telecommunication carrier directly. Alternatively, themodified INVITE message may identify a media server (371) (or a virtualsoftphone on SIP server) as the initiator for a separate call. The SIPserver then connects the calls for the media stream.

In one embodiment, the caller is first connected to a media server(e.g., 371, 373, or 379). For example, the SIP server may forward theSIP INVITE message to one or more of the media servers for answering thecall. When a media server (e.g., 371) answers the call, a prompt isplayed to the caller by the media server. The media server may includean Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, or be connected to an IVRsystem, to obtain input from the caller.

For example, the media server may prompt the caller to enter theextension assigned to the callee, such that the phone number of thecallee can be determined based on the phone number including theextension dialed by the caller. In some embodiments, the extensiondialed by the caller is sufficient to determine the phone number of thecallee. After the phone number of the callee is determined, the SIPserver can further connect the call to the callee.

For example, the media server can send a message to the SIP server. Themessage identifies the call and the extension obtained from the caller.The SIP server then determines the callee's phone number based at leaston the extension received from the media server and initiates a SIP callvia the packet switched network (353) (e.g., by sending a SIP INVITEmessage to the telecommunication carrier 275, which further bridges thecall to the callee 273). Then, the SIP server disconnects the mediaserver from the call and reconnects the call to the callee.

For example, the SIP server can send a SIP BYE message to the mediaserver to disconnect the media server from the call (e.g., by sending a“BYE” message to the media server for the call) and send a re-INVITEmessage towards the caller to connect the caller and the callee.Alternatively, the media server may send a SIP BYE message to the SIPserver for the call; the BYE message may include the extension obtainedfrom the caller; in response to the BYE message that contains theextension, the SIP server determines the phone number of the callee andfurther connects the caller to the callee.

In one embodiment, the SIP server can direct the caller and the calleeto connect to each other for the media stream without having the mediastream going through the session border controller (351) into theconnection server (355). For example, the media stream can go throughthe telecommunication carrier (275) in FIG. 8 without going to theconnection server (277) after the SIP server connects the caller and thecallee.

However, the SIP server stays on the signaling path to monitor theprogress and termination of the call. The SIP server can also break theconnection between the caller and the callee, or force the media streamto come through the connection serve (355). For example, the SIP servermay selectively conference a media server into the call to monitorand/or record the communication of the call between the caller and thecallee. For example, the SIP server may reconnect the caller and thecallee to separate media servers for interaction with an IVR system or ahuman operator to confirm a deal or transaction.

Similarly, the SIP server may initiate a callback to a caller via a SIPcall over the packet switched network (353) for a connection to thecaller. The SIP call may be bridged onto a circuit switched network(e.g., by a telecommunication carrier 275). The SIP server can thenreconnect the call to a media server for sending a prompt to the callerbefore reconnect the call to the callee. Alternatively, the callback canbe initiated from a media server; and the call signaling (e.g., theINVITE message from the media server) goes through the SIP server forcall control. Alternatively, the SIP server sends out the INVITE messageon behalf of the media server.

In one embodiment, the SIP servers (361, 363, . . . , 369) and mediaservers (371, 373, . . . , 379) are implemented on separate computersconnected via a local area network (and/or intranet or Internet).Alternatively, at least the some of the servers can be implemented on asame computer. In one embodiment, the SIP servers and the media serversare also integrated with the session border controller (351) on a samedata process system having multiple processors coupled with a data bus.In one embodiment, the SIP servers are coupled to the media servers viaa network; and a SIP server may use any of the available media serversfor interaction with the caller (or callee). Alternatively, a SIP servermay be configured to use one or more of media servers that are notshared by other SIP server. For example, a SIP server may be implementedon a same data processing system with one or more media servers whichare reserved for the SIP server.

In one embodiment, the connection server (355) may further include adatabase server (355) to storing records related to the calls, datamapping between the communication references assigned to the callees andthe actual phone numbers of the callees, etc. In one embodiment, contactmapping are cached in the local memory (e.g., RAM) of the servers forimproved performance; and the cached mapping is updated when thedatabase is updated.

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram example of a data processing system whichmay be used in various embodiments. While FIG. 10 illustrates variouscomponents of a computer system, it is not intended to represent anyparticular architecture or manner of interconnecting the components.Other systems that have fewer or more components may also be used.

In FIG. 10, the communication device (301) is a form of a dataprocessing system. The system (301) includes an inter-connect (302)(e.g., bus and system core logic), which interconnects amicroprocessor(s) (303) and memory (308). The microprocessor (303) iscoupled to cache memory (304) in the example of FIG. 10.

The inter-connect (302) interconnects the microprocessor(s) (303) andthe memory (308) together and also interconnects them to a displaycontroller and display device (307) and to peripheral devices such asinput/output (I/O) devices (305) through an input/output controller(s)(306). Typical I/O devices include mice, keyboards, modems, networkinterfaces, printers, scanners, video cameras and other devices whichare well known in the art.

The inter-connect (302) may include one or more buses connected to oneanother through various bridges, controllers and/or adapters. In oneembodiment the I/O controller (306) includes a USB (Universal SerialBus) adapter for controlling USB peripherals, and/or an IEEE-1394 busadapter for controlling IEEE-1394 peripherals.

The memory (308) may include ROM (Read Only Memory), and volatile RAM(Random Access Memory) and non-volatile memory, such as hard drive,flash memory, etc.

Volatile RAM is typically implemented as dynamic RAM (DRAM) whichrequires power continually in order to refresh or maintain the data inthe memory. Non-volatile memory is typically a magnetic hard drive, amagnetic optical drive, or an optical drive (e.g., a DVD RAM), or othertype of memory system which maintains data even after power is removedfrom the system. The non-volatile memory may also be a random accessmemory.

The non-volatile memory can be a local device coupled directly to therest of the components in the data processing system. A non-volatilememory that is remote from the system, such as a network storage devicecoupled to the data processing system through a network interface suchas a modem or Ethernet interface, can also be used.

In one embodiment, a server data processing system as illustrated inFIG. 10 is used as one of the communication server(s), connectionserver(s), database server(s), media server(s), controller(s),router(s), gateway(s), etc. In some embodiments, one or more servers ofthe system can be replaced with the service of a peer to peer network ofa plurality of data processing systems, or a network of distributedcomputing system. The peer to peer network, or a distributed computingsystem, can be collectively viewed as a server data processing system.

A user terminal as a client system can be a data processing systemsimilar to the system of FIG. 10. A client system can be in the form ofa PDA, a cellular phone, a notebook computer or a personal desktopcomputer. For example, the I/O devices of the user device may include aUSB phone, a Bluetooth wireless phone, or one or more speakers orheadphones with one or microphones for the implementation of a softwarebased phone.

In one embodiment, a user devices/phones support one or more real timecommunication capabilities, such as VoIP using Session InitiationProtocol (SIP) which may support video and instant-messagingapplications, IP phone, regular phone over VoIP service, Bluetoothwireless phone, USB phone, software based phone, and other forms of IPtelephony. Other types of traditional communication client(s) may beused in some embodiments.

FIG. 11 shows a user interface to arrange a callback to connect a callerto a callee for real time communications according to one embodiment.For example, when the user selects a click to call reference, the userinterface as illustrated in FIG. 11 can be presented.

In FIG. 11, the interface allows the user to specify a time window (321)in which the user is available for real time communications with thecallee (e.g., advertiser, advisor, seller, etc.). The user can providethe one or more phone numbers of the user in the entry boxes (e.g., 323,329). The user can select the control (328) to request further fieldsfor more callback references. In other embodiments, the user can alsoprovide other types of references for a real time communication, such asa member name, a user identifier, an account number, a screen name, atelephonic reference such as a SIP URI, a VoIP user ID, an instantmessaging user identifier, etc. In one embodiment, the user canspecified a number of callback references of different types, such asphone numbers with or without extension, SIP URIs, instant messaginguser identifiers, etc.

In one embodiment, if the user has already signed in, the callbackreferences (e.g., telephone number, user ID, etc.) can be obtainedautomatically from the user account and filled in the entry boxes (323and 329) for confirmation by the user. In one embodiment, the userterminal (e.g., a softphone, a cellular phone, etc.) can automaticallydetermine the one or more callback references of the user; and theautomatically determined callback reference can be used to pre-fill theentry boxes (323 and 329) for confirmation by the user. Alternatively,when the callback references can be determined via the automatedprocess, the system may initiate the connection process withoutdisplaying the interface as illustrated in FIG. 11.

In one embodiment, when the callee is available for real timecommunications with the user, the connection provider can call the phonenumber of the user to provide a connection between the user and thecallee.

In one embodiment, when the advertiser is available to talk to thecustomer, the connection server can connect to the customer via multipleconcurrent callbacks to the telephonic references of the customer. Thus,the customer can take the callback to talk to the advertiser via any ofthe multiple telephonic apparatuses of the customer. The system mayconnect the first answered callback to the advertiser and drop the othercallbacks, or allow the customer to pick up more than one callback for aconference call.

In one embodiment, the connection server can initiate multipleconcurrent callbacks to the customer and multiple concurrent calls tothe advertiser to connect the customer and the advertiser. In oneembodiment, the connection server receives a call from the customer andinitiates concurrent calls to the advertiser to connect the customer tothe advertiser. In one embodiment, the connection server establishes aconnection with the advertiser and then initiates multiple concurrentcallbacks to the customer to connect the customer to the advertiser.

In one embodiment, multiple concurrent calls are initiated from the userterminal of the customer or from the user terminal of the advertiser.The multiple concurrent calls may include one or more calls for peer topeer connections without going through a connection server.

In one embodiment, multiple calls can be initiated in the user terminalof the customer, or the user terminal of the entity of the listing. Forexample, when a link or icon button in an advertisement displayed on thesoftphone (or a mobile phone or smart) of the customer is selected, thesoftphone can be instructed to initiate multiple concurrent calls to theadvertiser based on the multiple references embedded in the link or theicon button. In another example, the advertiser is provided with amessage to call back the customer; and the message can include a link oricon button to cause the phone of the advertiser to initiate multipleconcurrent callbacks to the customer. In one embodiment, the phone isinstructed to make connection with the first answered one of theconcurrently placed calls. Alternatively, the phone is instructed toestablish a conference for all answered calls.

In one embodiment, a reference to the user request is provided to theadvertiser/advisor to allow the advertiser/advisor to initiate theconnection with the user for real time communications. For example, thesystem may send a message to the advertiser/advisor, including thereference to the user, to inform the advertiser/advisor that the user isinterested in a callback within the time window specified by the user.The message can be sent via an email, an instant message, an SMS textmessage, a voice mail, a phone call, etc.

In FIG. 11, the user may further optionally provide a comment in thetext field (325) to get the attention of the advertiser/advisor. In oneembodiment, the comment provided in the text field (325) is sent to thecallee (e.g., advertiser, advisor or seller) with the notification ofthe request. For example, when the callee is notified via a telephonicconnection, the comment can be provided via a text to speech module. Forexample, when the callee is notified via a visual message, the commentcan be included as text.

In FIG. 11, a visual interface is provided to a user to specify acallback number and a time window. Alternatively, the user may call aphone number assigned to the seller to specify the callback numbers andthe time window and to record a voice message for the seller. The phonenumber can be a phone number local to the user, a toll free number(e.g., 1-800-Call-Bob), a telephone number with an extension, a SIP URI,an instant messaging user identifier, a VoIP user identifier, a useridentifier of a peer to peer voice communication network, a member name,a click-to-call reference, a reference to a phone number, an Internetaddress for a voice connection, etc. When the phone number assigned tothe seller is called by the user, the call is connected to a connectionprovider which prompts the user to specify a callback number, a timewindow, a voice message, if the seller is not immediately available tocommunicate with the user. In one embodiment, the connection serverautomatically determines the number of the user (e.g., via an automaticnumber identification (ANI) service) and ask the user to confirm the useof the number as the callback number. Alternatively, the callback numbercan be determined from the preference setting of the user, after theuser is authenticated over the phone connection.

In one embodiment, a customer's response to an advertisement is capturedand presented to one or more advertisers with an option to request aconnection with the customer for real time communications via aconnection server. In one embodiment, a lead to the customer ispresented to a plurality of competing sellers; and a seller who requeststhe connection with the customer for real time communications is chargedan advertisement fee after the seller is connected to the customer forreal time communications, such as telephonic conversation, text chat,instant messaging, video conferencing, application sharing, etc.

For example, a customer may response to an advertisement for a categoryof service, such as mortgage or real estate brokers. The telephone callfrom the customer can be connected to an Interactive Voice Response(IVR) system (or a live operator) to determine the category of serviceand the number of advertisers in the particular category serving thegeographic area of the customer. Alternatively, the advertisement may bepresented specifically for the particular category of service andgeographical area, which can be determined based on the telephone numberthe customer called to reach the connection server (or a web requestresulted from selecting a call button embedded in the advertisement).

In one embodiment, the responses of the customer to one or morequestions presented via the IVR system (or a live operator) arerecorded. Once the telephone call ends, the customer's request can beexamined by a human operator or a semantically intelligent softwareagent to select a set of relevant advertisers. In another embodiment,the responses of the customers are not examined for the selection of theadvertisers; and the advertisers are selected based on the category ofthe advertisement and the geographic area of the requested service. Inone embodiment, the advertisement is presented to different advertisersto sign up advertisers who are interested in leads generated from theadvertisement.

In one embodiment, competing advertisers can place bids on the leadsgenerated from the advertiser. The lead to the customer can be presentedto the advertisers in an order based on the bid amount offered by theadvertisers. For example, the highest bidder gets the first opportunityto accept or decline the lead. In other embodiments, advertisers may paya subscription fee for leads delivered in a period of time (e.g., aweek, a month, a year), or pay a flat fee per lead; and the lead to thecustomer is presented to relevant advertisers simultaneously.

In one embodiment, a customer may request more than one connection withdifferent advertisers. The connection server connects the advertiserswho accept the lead to the customer, one at a time, until the requestednumber of advertisers are connected to the customer. In one embodiment,the customer can set a time limit and/or a limit on the number ofconnections from different advertisers to end the request.

In one embodiment, the recorded customer information can be presented tothe advertiser via a phone call initiated by a connection server; and anIVR system is used to take the “accept” or “reject” response from theadvertiser. If the lead is accepted, the advertiser is automaticallyconnected to the customer (e.g., at the telephone number of the customerdetermined via an automatic number identification (ANI) service duringthe initial call from the customer, or at a customer-provided numbertelephone number which is optionally verified by the system). Theadvertiser is billed for the lead after the advertiser is connected tothe customer. If the lead is rejected, the next appropriate advertiseris called to present the lead.

In another embodiment, the recorded customer information is presented tothe advertiser(s) via other types of media channels, such as email, SMS,a centralized website, instant messaging, or a combination of these. Forexample, a link can be embedded in the presentation message, which isselectable to play the recorded information through the recipientscomputer. Optionally, a link selectable to initiate a phone call to thecustomer via the connection server can be embedded in the leadpresentation message. The recorded information can be presented duringthe phone call, instead of being played through the recipients computer.

In one embodiment, the lead presentation message includes linksselectable to indicate accepting or rejecting the lead. In addition,other relevant information can also be presented, such as lead cost,lead expiration, geography chosen, geographic location of the telephonenumber of the customer determined via automatic number identification(ANI) service, the IP address of the customer, the actual search termsused by the customer to reach the advertisement, the lead source, etc.

FIG. 12 shows a system to connect customers to advertisers according toone embodiment. In FIG. 12, a generalized advertisement (411) ispresented on behalf of a plurality of advertisers (e.g., 415, 417, . . ., 419) via a media channel (403), such as a web site, a search engine, abillboard, a television program, a radio broadcast system, a newspaper,etc.

In FIG. 12, a communication reference (413) is assigned to theadvertisement and presented with the advertisement. A customer (407) canuse the communication reference (413) to request a connection to theconnection server (405) and to make the customer request (421).

In one embodiment, the communication reference (413) is a telephonicreference of the connection server (405), which can be used to establisha connection between the customer (407) and the connection server. Thetelephonic reference may be a toll free telephone number or a telephonenumber local to the service area of the advertisers (e.g., 415, 417, . .. , 419). Alternatively, the telephonic reference may be a click to callreference, which when selected by the customer, causes the connectionserver (405) to call back to the customer to establish the telephoneconnection, or causes a VoIP application on a user terminal of thecustomer to initiate a VoIP call to the connection server (405).

In another embodiment, the reference (413) may be a link to a web pagebased from to collect customer's response to a plurality of questions,or an email address for transmitting the customer's request to theconnection sever (405) via an email message.

In one embodiment, the customer request (421) is associated with thecustomer's phone number (425), a callback time window (427) forresponding to the customer, request details (429) relevant to theadvertisement (411), etc. In one embodiment, the information associatedwith the customer request (421) is collected via a telephonic connectionestablished via the reference (413) embedded in the advertisement (411).

In FIG. 12, after the customer request (421) is generated in thedatabase (401), one or more advertisers are selected. The customerrequest (421) is presented to the selected advertisers (e.g., 409) via amedia channel (e.g., 404).

In one embodiment, the connection server (405) makes a telephone call tothe advertiser (409) to present the customer request. If the advertiser(409) accepts the lead in the telephone call (e.g., via pressing a “#”key on the phone, or speaking the word “accept” or “connect” during thetelephone call), the connection server (405) further connects the callto the customer via dialing a call to the customer (407) using thecustomer's phone number (425) and joining the calls (or via forwardingthe call received from the advertiser to the customer).

Alternatively, the advertiser (409) does not have to make the decisionto accept or reject the lead during the telephone call. A reference(423) is provided to the advertiser (409) to request a connection to thecustomer (409) via the connections server (405). In one embodiment, thereference (423) is a telephonic reference of the connection server, suchas a telephone number with or without an extension, a Session InitiationProtocol (SIP) uniform resource identifier (URI), a user identifier ofan instant messaging network or VoIP system, etc. In another embodiment,the reference (423) includes a link selectable to request the connectionserver (405) to call both the customer (407) and the advertiser (409) toprovide the telephonic connection.

Alternatively, the customer request can be presented via a message overa data communication network, such as electronic mail, SMS message,instant message, web page, etc. The reference (423) is embedded in thecustomer request (421).

FIG. 13 shows a user interface to capture a customer request accordingto one embodiment. In FIG. 13, the user interface allows the customer toselect a time window (441) within which the customer is available totalk to an advertiser. The system stop presenting the customer requestto advertisers after the time window; and if an advertiser requests thesystem to provide a connection to the customer after the time window(441), the advertiser is not connected to the customer.

In one embodiment, connected to the customer is the advertiser whoaccepts the lead to the customer within the time window and before otheradvertisers accept the lead. Other advertisers are not connected to thecustomer.

In one embodiment, connection to the customer is not limited to theadvertiser who accepts the lead before others. Within the time window,more than one advertiser may accept the lead and be connected to thecustomer, one advertiser at a time. The customer may cancel the requestafter the customer is satisfied with the response of an advertiser. Forexample, the customer can call the connection server to cancel therequest, or to reject a subsequent call from the connection server tocancel the request.

In another embodiment, the customer can explicitly specify a limit forthe number of advertisers that can be connected to the customer for therequest. The request expires after the specified number of advertisershave been connected to the customer.

In FIG. 13, the customer can specify the callback number of the customerin entry box (443). In one embodiment, the customer may specify multiplenumbers to receive callback from the connection server. In oneembodiment, the callback number is looked up from the account of thecustomer after the customer signs into the account.

In FIG. 13, the user interface is designed to collect variousinformation relevant to the request, such as the desired location ofservice (445). The customer can provide comments on the request, whichcan be helpful in assessing the needs of the customer. In oneembodiment, the needs of the customer are evaluated and matched to theoffers of the advertisers to connect the customer and advertisers.

In one embodiment, after the “submit” button (449) is selected, theinformation collected in the user interface is transmitted to aconnection server via a data communication channel (e.g., via a webrequest, an email message, an SMS/MMS message, etc.). In FIG. 13, theuser interface is presented visually via a web page. Alternatively, theuser interface can be presented to collect similar information via anemail message, an SMS/MMS message, or via an audio/voice portal. Forexample, the customer may call a telephone number presented in theadvertisement to interact via an IVR system to specify the correspondinginformation for the request.

FIG. 14 shows a user interface to present an option to an entity for aconnection to a customer according to one embodiment. In FIG. 14, thepresentation of the customer request includes the geographic area (453)of the desired service, the comments (451) of the customer about therequest, the time limit (465) for the expiration of the request (or forthe expiration of the lead offer), the price (467) for the lead to thecustomer, etc. In FIG. 14, a link (461) is selectable to obtain furtherinformation about the request, such as the demand partner who presentedthe advertisement to the customer, the search terms used by the customerto discover the advertisement, answers to other questions presented tothe customer, etc.

In FIG. 14, a telephone number (455) is presented to allow theadvertiser to call the connection server for a connection to thecustomer using a separate telephonic apparatus (e.g., a landlinetraditional phone). Alternatively, the advertiser can select the “callnow” link (457) or button (459) to request the connection server to callback the advertiser for a connection to the customer. In FIG. 14, theadvertiser can select the button (463) to reject the lead.

In FIG. 14, the user interface is presented visually via a web page.Alternatively, the customer's request can be presented to providesimilar information via an email message, an SMS/MMS message, or via anaudio/voice portal. For example, the advertiser may call a telephonenumber of a connection server to interact via an IVR system to accessthe customer request; and when the advertiser accepts the lead, the callfrom the advertiser can be further connected to the customer.

FIG. 15 shows a system to advertise customer needs according to oneembodiment. In FIG. 15, the needs of customers are collected in thedatabase (501) and presented to the selected sellers (e.g., advertisers,advisors, etc.).

In FIG. 15, a customer (505) submits the need of the customer to aconnection server (503), via a voice/audio portal accessible via callsto one or more telephone numbers of the connection provider, via a website of the connection provider, or via an email or SMS message to theconnection provider. The connection provider advertises the need of thecustomer among sellers to offer the lead to the sellers and to find aseller who can address the need of the customer. In one embodiment, theconnection provider selects a set of sellers based on an analysis of theneed of the customer; and the need of the customer is presented to theselected sellers in a lead to the customer.

In one embodiment, the customer (505) is not required to pay a fee forthe service of finding the appropriate seller. The seller (507) who isconnected to the customer (505) pays a fee for the lead to the customer(505).

In FIG. 15, the need (511) of the customer is associated withinformation such as the phone number (515) of the customer (or othertypes of telephonic references of the customer), a time window for theexpiration of the request, the details of the request of the customer,such as the preferences of the customer, a special requirement, etc. Areference (513), such as a telephone number of the connection server ora click to call reference, is associated with the customer need (511)for advertising the customer need (511) to selected sellers (e.g., 507).Alternatively, the customer need (511) is presented to the seller over atelephonic connection initiated specifically for the customer need(511); and the seller is asked to accept or reject the lead during thetelephone call.

In FIG. 15, after the seller (507) accepts the lead, the connectionserver (503) initiates a call to the customer (505) to connect theseller (507) to the customer (505). Thus, customer needs are advertisedto the sellers free of charges to the customers; and the sellers arecharged for leads to the customers when the sellers are connected to thecustomers for telephone conversations.

The customer need (511) can be collected via a search engine, a webportal, a voice portal/audio portal, etc. The customer need (511) mayalso be collected via generalized advertisements presented in responseto search requests received from customers.

FIG. 16 shows a user interface to present customer needs to an entityfor a connection to a customer according to one embodiment. In FIG. 16,after the identity of the entity is authenticated, the user interface isprovided to present a list of leads.

In one embodiment, the user interface presents the customers using anidentifier assigned to the customer. In one embodiment, the customersare required to signed in as registered members; and the customers canbe consistently represented using their member names, without revealingtheir real names for the privacy of the customers. A customer mayprovide a public profile to the system. The information specified in thepublic profile of the customer can be presented by the system to othermembers of the system. Thus, the customer can selectively provideinformation in the public profile for a desired level of privacy. InFIG. 16, the customer is further identified by the location (e.g., 533)of the customer.

Alternatively, the system may present the customers using identifiersthat are generated specifically for the seller, to avoid revealing themember names of the customers for enhanced privacy protection. Forexample, a customer for the seller may be identified as “customer12,”while “customer12” for another seller may or may not be a reference tothis customer and is generally not a reference to the same customer.When the customers are not registered users of the system, the customerscan be identified based on the telephonic reference of the customerprovided to received the callback from the connection server. In oneembodiment, the telephonic reference of the customer is not revealed tothe seller; and the seller is connected to the customer indirectly viathe connection server.

In one embodiment, the system also provides a tool to the seller tomanage information. For example, in FIG. 16, when an identifier (e.g.,531) is selected by the customer, a further user interface (not shown)can be displayed to manage information about the customer as identifiedby the identifier. The seller may specify a name for the customer. Forexample, during the conversation with the customer, if the customerprovides the name of the customer to the seller, the seller can recordthe name so that the customer can be subsequently identified using thename entered into the system by the seller. The seller may record acomment about the seller for subsequent viewing. The seller may providea rank to the customer, load past transactions with the customer, and/orspecify a status of the customer.

In one embodiment, the list of customers includes the icon buttons orlinks (e.g., 541) which can be selected by the seller to initiate a callto the customer. The links or icon buttons include click-to-callreferences that are associated with the seller and the respectivecustomers. Once a link or icon button is selected, the connectionprovider can call both the seller and the customer to make theconnection. Alternatively, when the click-to-call reference is selected,a VoIP application running on the user terminal of the seller is used tocall the customer. In one embodiment, the VoIP application is configuredto make peer to peer connection with the customer according to atelephonic reference embedded in the click-to-call reference; and theVoIP application is further configured to report the connection to aserver to charge the seller for the lead, after the seller is connectedsuccessfully to the customer.

In FIG. 16, the seller can select the link (543) to further examine thedetail of the request. For example, the detail of the request mayinclude a price offer for the requested service, the desired geographicarea to receive the service (which may be different from the location ofthe customer), requirements specific to the requested service, etc.

In FIG. 16, the expiration time windows (537) as requested by thecustomers are also displayed, together with the price of the lead (e.g.,537) which is to be charged after the seller is connected to thecustomer for real time communications. In one embodiment, the expirationtime window indicates the duration of the time period between the timethe list is generated and the time the request expires.

In another embodiment, the expiration time window of the lead offer ispresented. After the offer presented to the seller expires, the customerrequest can be presented to another seller. Thus, customer the requestcan be sequentially presented to a plurality of sellers until one selleraccepts the leads.

Alternatively, the customer request can be presented to multiple sellersconcurrently; and the lead offer to other sellers is withdrawn when oneof the sellers accepts the lead (or after a predetermined number ofsellers accept the lead).

In one embodiment, the customer request is presented to a first set ofsellers concurrently. After the expiration of the offer of the leadpresented to the first set of sellers, a second set of sellers isselected; and the customer request is presented to the second set ofsellers concurrently.

FIG. 16 shows a visual interface for presenting the customers.Alternatively, the seller may dial the phone number assigned to theseller to access the leads to customers via an audio portal. Forexample, the list of customers may be read to the seller after theseller calls the phone number assigned to the seller from a phone thatis associated with the seller.

In one embodiment, the seller can also manage the customer leads via anIVR system over a telephone connection. For example, when the seller isconnected to the system via a telephone connection, the seller ispresented with the list of leads. The seller can selectively reorder thelist, or select one from the list for connection to the selectedcustomer. In one embodiment, the system priorities the queue accordingto a set of rules specified by the seller and presents a number of topranking customers for selection by the customer.

FIG. 17 shows a method to provide a communication connection accordingto one embodiment. In FIG. 17, after a request from a customer isreceived (601), a telephonic reference of the customer is determined(603). In one embodiment, the telephonic reference of the customer isdetermined based on the telephone number from which the customerinitiated the call to make the request. Alternatively, the telephonicreference of the customer is provided in the request transmitted in adata message; and the telephonic reference of the customer is extractedfrom the data representing the request. For example, the telephonicreference of the customer can be provided by the customer via a messagetransmitted over a data communication network together with the request.Alternatively, the customer may be connected to an interactive userinterface, such as an IVR system, to provide the telephonic reference ofthe customer with details of the request.

In FIG. 17, an option to be connected to the customer is presented (605)to at least one entity. In one embodiment, the at least one entity isselected based on the request received from the customer. After aselection of the option is received (607) from a first entity, aconnection server initiates (609) a telephonic connection to thecustomer using the determined telephonic reference of the customer toprovide a telephonic connection between the customer and the firstentity. The first entity is charged (611) a fee for a lead to thecustomer in response to establishing the telephonic connection betweenthe customer and the first entity.

In one embodiment, an advertisement is presented on behalf of aplurality of competing advertisers; and the request received from thecustomer is in response to the advertisement. In one embodiment, theadvertisement includes a telephonic reference; and the request isreceived via a telephone call from the customer to the telephonicreference of a connection server.

In one embodiment, a voice message from the customer is recorded overthe telephone call received from the customer and presented to the atleast one entity to advertise the request to the at least one entity.

In one embodiment, the option is presented sequentially to a pluralityof competing entities one after another in an order based at least inpart on bid prices of the plurality of competing entities, until thefirst entity selects the option. In another embodiment, presenting theoption concurrently to the plurality of competing entities; and theoption presented to the plurality of competing entities other than thefirst entity is withdrawn in response to the first entity selecting theoption. In one embodiment, the option is withdrawn temporarily until thetelephonic connection between the first entity and the customer isdisconnected.

In one embodiment, the telephone call received from the customer isconnected an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system to prompt thecustomer to answer a plurality of questions using the IVR system. Theresponses of the customer to the plurality of questions are stored andpresented to the at least one entity with the option for a telephonicconnection to the customer.

In one embodiment, a specification of a time period is received from thecustomer; the telephonic connection is initiated to the customer usingthe determined telephonic reference of the customer to provide atelephonic connection between the customer and the first entity when thefirst entity selects the option within the time period specified by thecustomer; and the option expires after the time period specified by thecustomer.

In one embodiment, a connection server initiates a telephonic connectionto the first entity to present the option; and the connection serverjoins the telephonic connection initiated to the first entity and thetelephonic connection initiated to the customer to connect the customerand the first entity, after the first entity selects the option.

In one embodiment, the presenting of the option to the at least oneentity includes presenting the option to the first entity via a messagetransmitted over a data communication network, where the messageincludes a reference selectable by the first entity to request aconnection between the customer and the first entity. The message may betransmitted via short message service (SMS), multimedia messagingservice (MMS), email, instant messaging, or a web page.

In one embodiment, a telephonic reference of a connection server isassigned to the customer; the telephonic reference is included in themessage to allow the first entity to initiate a call to the connectionserver for a connection to the customer. The telephonic referenceassigned to the customer may include a telephone extension number, asession initiation protocol (SIP) uniform resource identifier (URI), aVoice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) user identifier, or an instantmessaging network user identifier. In one embodiment, the connectionserver determining the telephonic number of the customer based on thetelephonic reference of the connection server used to receive the callfrom the first entity.

In another embodiment, a click to call reference is included in themessage to allow the first entity to request a telephonic connection tothe customer.

In one embodiment, the message further includes a price for the fee, anidentification of a demand partner through which the request isreceived, a search term used by the customer in the request, ageographic area selected by the customer, or a geographic location ofthe customer determined based on the determined telephonic reference ofthe customer.

From this description, it will be appreciated that certain aspects areembodied in the user devices, certain aspects are embodied in the serversystems, and certain aspects are embodied in a system as a whole.Embodiments disclosed can be implemented using hardware, programs ofinstruction, or combinations of hardware and programs of instructions.

In general, routines executed to implement the embodiments may beimplemented as part of an operating system or a specific application,component, program, object, module or sequence of instructions referredto as “computer programs.” The computer programs typically comprise oneor more instructions set at various times in various memory and storagedevices in a computer, and that, when read and executed by one or moreprocessors in a computer, cause the computer to perform operationsnecessary to execute elements involving the various aspects.

While some embodiments have been described in the context of fullyfunctioning computers and computer systems, those skilled in the artwill appreciate that various embodiments are capable of beingdistributed as a program product in a variety of forms and are capableof being applied regardless of the particular type of machine orcomputer-readable media used to actually effect the distribution.

Examples of computer-readable media include but are not limited torecordable and non-recordable type media such as volatile andnon-volatile memory devices, read only memory (ROM), random accessmemory (RAM), flash memory devices, floppy and other removable disks,magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media (e.g., Compact DiskRead-Only Memory (CD ROMS), Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs), etc.), amongothers. The instructions may be embodied in digital and analogcommunication links for electrical, optical, acoustical or other formsof propagated signals, such as carrier waves, infrared signals, digitalsignals, etc.

A machine readable medium can be used to store software and data whichwhen executed by a data processing system causes the system to performvarious methods. The executable software and data may be stored invarious places including for example ROM, volatile RAM, non-volatilememory and/or cache. Portions of this software and/or data may be storedin any one of these storage devices. Further, the data and instructionscan be obtained from centralized servers or peer to peer networks.Different portions of the data and instructions can be obtained fromdifferent centralized servers and/or peer to peer networks at differenttimes and in different communication sessions or in a same communicationsession. The data and instructions can be obtained in entirety prior tothe execution of the applications. Alternatively, portions of the dataand instructions can be obtained dynamically, just in time, when neededfor execution. Thus, it is not required that the data and instructionsbe on a machine readable medium in entirety at a particular instance oftime.

In general, a machine readable medium includes any mechanism thatprovides (i.e., stores and/or transmits) information in a formaccessible by a machine (e.g., a computer, network device, personaldigital assistant, manufacturing tool, any device with a set of one ormore processors, etc.).

Aspects disclosed may be embodied, at least in part, in software. Thatis, the techniques may be carried out in a computer system or other dataprocessing system in response to its processor, such as amicroprocessor, executing sequences of instructions contained in amemory, such as ROM, volatile RAM, non-volatile memory, cache or aremote storage device.

In various embodiments, hardwired circuitry may be used in combinationwith software instructions to implement the techniques. Thus, thetechniques are neither limited to any specific combination of hardwarecircuitry and software nor to any particular source for the instructionsexecuted by the data processing system.

In this description, various functions and operations are described asbeing performed by or caused by software code to simplify description.However, those skilled in the art will recognize what is meant by suchexpressions is that the functions result from execution of the code by aprocessor, such as a microprocessor.

Although some of the drawings illustrate a number of operations in aparticular order, operations which are not order dependent may bereordered and other operations may be combined or broken out. While somereordering or other groupings are specifically mentioned, others will beapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art and so do not present anexhaustive list of alternatives. Moreover, it should be recognized thatthe stages could be implemented in hardware, firmware, software or anycombination thereof.

Although the disclosure has been provided with reference to specificexemplary embodiments, it will be evident that the various modificationand changes can be made to these embodiments without departing from thebroader spirit as set forth in the claims. Accordingly, thespecification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative senserather than in a restrictive sense.

1. A method, comprising: providing a communication reference to anentity for distribution to customers; establishing connections for realtime communications between the entity and the customers in response torequests made via the communication reference; charging the customers onbehalf of the entity using a process to establish the connections for aservice of the entity provided to the customers over the connections;presenting the service of the entity to customers on behalf of theentity; charging the entity a first fee according to what the entitycharges a customer for the service provided over a connectionestablished between the customer and the entity; and charging the entitya second fee according to a bid price specified by the entity inresponse to a determination that the presenting of the service of theentity on behalf of the entity leads to the customer.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first fee is a predetermined percent of what theentity charges the customer for the service of the entity.
 3. The methodof claim 2, wherein the first fee is based on a time duration of realtime communications over the connection between the entity and thecustomer.
 4. The method of claim 2, further comprising: determining thesecond fee based on the bid price specified by the entity and a bidprice of a competitor of the entity.
 5. The method of claim 2, whereinboth the first fee and the second fee are based on a time duration ofreal time communications over the connection between the entity and thecustomer.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication referencecomprises a telephonic reference; and the method further comprises:monitoring the connection to determine a duration of a telephonicconversation related to the service to charge the customer on behalf ofthe entity.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicationreference comprises a link selectable to request a connection server tocall back the customer for the connection between the customer and theentity.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising: responsive to thelink being selected, determining whether the link is embedded in apresentation of the service of the entity provided on behalf of theentity to determine whether to charge the entity the second fee.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: providing a separatecommunication reference in a presentation of the service of the entityprovided on behalf of the entity; and determining whether to charge theentity the second fee based on whether the customer is connected to theentity via the separate communication reference.
 10. The method of claim9, wherein the separate communication reference comprises a telephonenumber of a connection server without an extension, a telephone numberof a connection server with an extension, a session initiation protocol(SIP) uniform resource identifier (URI), a Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP) user identifier, or a user identifier in an instant messagingnetwork.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: establishing afirst connection with the customer via the communication reference;establishing a second connection with the entity; and bridging the firstand second connections to connect the customer and the entity for realtime communications.
 12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:prompting the customer over the first connection to receive an inputfrom the customer; and determining whether the presenting of the serviceof the entity leads to the customer based on the input from thecustomer.
 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: prompting thecustomer over the first connection to receive an identifier assigned tothe entity; and determining a communication reference of the entitybased on the identifier to establish the second connection.
 14. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: determining an identifier of thecustomer; and determining, based on the identifier of the customer,whether the customer is a new customer led to the entity within apredetermined period of time via the presenting of the service of theentity.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein the identifier of thecustomer comprises a telephone number of the customer, an email addressof the customer, an Internet address of the customer, or a memberaccount of the customer.
 16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:responsive to a request for information from the customer, selecting,based at least in part on the bid price specified by the entity, alisting of the entity for the presenting of the service of the entity tothe customer.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the selecting of thelisting is further based on a rating determined based on feedback fromprior customers of the entity.
 18. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: responsive to a request for information from the customer,sorting a plurality of listings, including a listing of entity, based atleast in part on bid prices of the listings for presentation to thecustomer.
 19. A machine readable media embodying instructions, theinstructions causing a machine to perform a method, the methodcomprising: providing a communication reference to an entity fordistribution to customers; establishing connections for real timecommunications between the entity and the customers in response torequests made via the communication reference; charging the customers onbehalf of the entity using a process to establish the connections for aservice of the entity provided to the customers over the connections;presenting the service of the entity to customers on behalf of theentity; charging the entity a first fee according to what the entitycharges a customer for the service provided over a connectionestablished between the customer and the entity; and charging the entitya second fee according to a bid price specified by the entity inresponse to a determination that the presenting of the service of theentity on behalf of the entity leads to the customer.
 20. A system,comprising: means for providing a communication reference to an entityfor distribution to customers; means for establishing connections forreal time communications between the entity and the customers inresponse to requests made via the communication reference; means forcharging the customers on behalf of the entity using a process toestablish the connections for a service of the entity provided to thecustomers over the connections; means for presenting the service of theentity to customers on behalf of the entity; means for charging theentity a first fee according to what the entity charges a customer forthe service provided over a connection established between the customerand the entity; and means for charging the entity a second fee accordingto a bid price specified by the entity in response to a determinationthat the presenting of the service of the entity on behalf of the entityleads to the customer.